Interpretant is a term used by Charles Peirce to denote one of the three most important parts of a sign or semiosis. According to him, the sign is irreducibly triadic, its components are a sign (or sign vehicle), object, and interpreter. The interpretant should not be...
Semiology Glossary
Interpreter
An interpreter is a person involved in the process of interpretation, creating meanings from some text, discourse, or another semiotic phenomenon. The interpreter should not be confused with what Charles Peirce calls an interpreter. In The Problem of Christianity,...
Intrasemiotic
Intrasemiotic refers to a process belonging to or arising within the same semiotic system (sign system). For comparison, intersemiotics examines the relationship between two different sign systems. When one saxophonist responds to another during improvisation, it is...
Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity refers to the conditions under which two or more different subjects or individuals relate to each other. If the subjective refers to an internal or private area, and the objective to an external or public sphere, the intersubjective means first and...
Intratextuality
Intratextuality is a critical term used to explore the relationship between the parts and the whole in texts, including issues of unity (and disunity), the relationship between digressions and their surroundings, interactions between disparate parts of texts (such as...
Intuition, Intuitive Knowledge
Intuition, Intuitive Knowledge is synonymous with immediate knowledge. Charles Peirce uses intuition in a purely technical sense to denote a knowledge determined not by another knowledge, but only by an object outside consciousness. The conclusion of an argument is...
Irreducible, Irreducibility
Irreducible - the essence or status of something to be irreducible or indivisible, without dissolving into something simpler. At the heart of Charles Peirce's understanding of signs is the assertion that signs are irreducibly triadic. If we compare the following two...
Iteration, Iterability
Iteration is the process by which something (such as a sign) is replicated or reproduced; Iterability is the ability to repeat or repeat; to be able to repeat or reproduce over and over again. It is generally accepted that this is an essential feature of the signs....
Jouissance
Jouissance is a French word that means rapture or pleasure. Jouissance is often used to describe sexual orgasm. Roland Barthes often uses the word to identify a specific type of text and what he calls pleasure of text.
Lack
Lack is a term used by Jacques Lacan to denote Lack, animated Lack, or neglect. This use echoes Hegel (1770-1831), a philosopher who sheds light on the "potential power of negation." This power is manifested in desire: a lack of feeling, a compelling feeling of being...
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Consciousness
Synonymous with awareness is also the ability of an organism to respond to or at least respond to intra- or extra somatic phenomena and objects. According to Charles S. Peirce, "every time we think, we present to our consciousness some feeling, image, concept, or...
Conspicuous Consumption
In The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) Thorstein Veblen draws attention to the phenomenon of consuming goods and services not as a means of satisfying needs, but as communicating status and well-being. This suggests that semiotics should be used on an equal footing...
Constative
A name given by John L. Austin to messages that are appropriate to ask whether they are true or false (for example, "the cat is on the mat"). Austin was mostly interested in performative utterances (statements that make no sense to ask whether they are true or false,...
Contact
To learn more about the term Contact, please see Channel.
Contemporary
A term often used by philosophers and historians for ideas, it differs from the modern definition. Modern means post-medieval (Middle Ages - a period covering roughly the period from 500 to 1500) and post-modern. The beginning of the modern era is debatable. It is...
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.
