Possessing many or at least several functions. Related: Architecture Fashion
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Polysemy
Possessing many or at least several meanings.
Positivism
A doctrine presented by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), at the heart of which is the assertion that positive (scientific) knowledge is doomed to replace the philosophical (metaphysical), which is speculative, just as philosophical speculation has previously replaced...
Postmodernism
A widely used term to denote the sensitivity of advanced capitalist countries since at least the 1960s. In The Postmodern Condition, Jean-François Lyotard writes: "Simply put, I would define the postmodern as distrust of metanarratives" (1979 [1984], XXIV). Still,...
Post-structuralism
A contemporary theoretical movement in which certain structuralist positions (the most notable is that of language as a system of differences) are back in circulation, and some central structuralist aspirations (especially the desire to transform the study of...
Postulate
As with the axiom and the hypothesis, this is a proposition from which other truths are separated or on which the inquiry is based. In the strict sense of the word, his postulate lacks the certainty of the axiom, but it is nevertheless more than a purely conditional...
Pragmaticism
Pragmaticism is a term introduced by Charles S. Peirce to distinguish his own version of pragmatism from other versions. In 1905, Peirce noted that "the word (pragmatism) began to appear even in literary magazines, where it was abused in the ruthless way one would...
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a term used by Charles Morris to denote a branch of semiotics dedicated to the study of the relationship between signs and their many users (i.e., their creators and interpreters). Related: Semantics Syntactics
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical doctrine formulated and defended by Charles S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, and K. A. Lewis. It was originally formulated by Peirce as a maxim about how to clarify our ideas. Related: Grades of Clarity...
Praxis
Praxis is a Greek word for practice, used in opposition to theory, on the one hand, and poiesis, on the other. Related: Discursive practice
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Abridgment
Reducing or shortening a word or phrase, such as shortening of "Metropolitan" to "Metro". Abridgment affects signifiers, not words (ie nonverbal or linguistic signifiers). The slightest nod from a person's repertoire of nonverbal communication gestures can replace the...
Abstraction
The process by which certain features of a phenomenon or reality are chosen for consideration and others are downplayed; the product obtained by such a process is ens rationis, a state of mind; his being is available only in thought. If we focus on human beings only...
Actant
A term proposed by A.J. Greimas and accepted by narratologists to indicate the most essential categories of the development of the plot. From the beginning, Greimas suggested having three such categories, each in binary opposition: Subject/object; Sender/recipient;...
Actantial Analysis
Actantial Analysis is the analysis of the narrative in terms of actants, abstract functions, located at the level of the deep structure. For narratologists such as Roland Barthes and A.J. Greimas narrative discourse has both a superficial and a deep structure. What...
Acteme
A term proposed by Kenneth L. Pike to denote the most basic units of communicative behavior, whether verbal or nonverbal. What is the phoneme for linguistic research as a system of aural signs is the same acteme for the study of communications as a behavioral system....
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.
