Understanding that everything is in some way and to some extent a sign.
Charles S. Peirce goes a long way in claiming that “the whole universe … is permeated with signs, if not composed exclusively of signs” (CP 5.448).
Umberto Eco warns of semiotic imperialism – the belief that semiotics gives us the last word or ultimate truth about everyone and everything. He emphasizes the need to distinguish between two different hypotheses: The view that we must see everything sub specie semiotica and the other view – that everything could be studied from this point of view, albeit with varying degrees of success.
