Method of Authority is a term used by Charles S. Peirce to identify one of four possible ways to establish the strengthening of beliefs, namely the method of co-referring to some publicly recognized authority. According to Peirce, beliefs are habits of action. When...
M
Manifest Content
Manifested content is what a message or other configuration of signs (such as a dream) manifests (on the surface) or directly conveys. Manifested content is often constructed as something superficial, i.e., floating on the surface while latent content is something...
Margin, Margins
Margin, Margins is a common metaphor in modern scripture used to thematize what is overly denied or devalued. The metaphor of marginality and periphery has become a central trope of deconstructivist and postmodernist writings. Inevitably, in one discourse, some topics...
Marked Signifier
Marked Signifier is a term that indicates that a signifier or sign vehicle is marked - qualified or modified in some way. Linguist and semiotician Roman Jakobson developed the theory of marking. For example, the verbal signifier "cat" in the singular is unmarked, and...
Meaning
Meaning is a term whose multiplicity of meanings is too great to be summarized. However, there is a widespread consensus in semiotics that meaning is not an explanatory term, but one that requires explanation. To understand its meaning, we need to know what signs are...
Mediation
Mediation from Latin mediare, to be in the middle, medius - middle. Mediation is the process of connecting things that would otherwise be unrelated; or the result of such a process. This idea is important for semiotics, as signs perform the function of mediation. When...
Medieval
Belonging to the Middle Ages (the period in Western history from approximately 500 to 1500). Especially during the High (Late) Middle Ages, much attention was paid to logic. The works created as a result of this attention have a direct and still underestimated...
Mentalism
Mentalism comes from the Latin word for mind "mens". Mentalism is the doctrine that meaning is primarily something that the mind transmits through signs and symbols. Usually, the isolated mind is perceived as creating meaning. Unlike the mentalists, most semioticians...
Message
A message is what is transmitted or conveyed in a communicative exchange. The message is one of the six dimensions or components of communication. In each act of communication, one addresser transmits a message to one addressee. A code and channel (or contact) must...
Meta-
Meta- is a prefix meaning beyond or above.
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Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It encompasses the analysis of every aspect of language, as well as the methods for studying and modeling them. The traditional areas of linguistic analysis include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,...
Phenomenology
A term used by Charles S. Peirce to denote a discipline of philosophy. The term is also used to denote an important movement in modern philosophy, identified with such thinkers as Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Roman Ingarden. It could be said that this...
Feminism
Feminism is an ideology, that, like other ideologies uses reductionism to explain complex issues like, for example, the one that the feminists most commonly cite - the rights to equal pay. Like most ideologies, the feministic too has its roots in somewhat reasonable...
Rationalism
Rationalism in a very general sense means devotion to reason; in a narrower sense, it refers to the doctrine that reason itself has the ability to know reality. In a general sense, then, the rationalist is a defender and advocate of reason. Rationalism is often used...
Intertextuality
Intertextuality is a term introduced by Julia Kristeva and widely accepted by literary theorists to denote the complex way in which a text relates to other texts. Just as there is no sign separate from other signs, there is no text separate from other texts. In...
Free Course in Semiology
A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.
