Semiology Glossary

In one sense - a figure of speech in which the word or expression is transferred from its usual area to someone else; more generally, the name of each trope or figure of speech. There is a huge and still growing literature on metaphor. In this literature, there are...

Metatheory is a theory of formulating and judging theories - in short, a theory of theories.

Methodeutic is a term used by Charles Peirce to denote the third branch of logic. For Persian logic is a normative science, divided into three branches: Speculative grammar Critique Speculative rhetoric (Methodeutic).   The third branch delivers the theory of...

Metonymy is a trope or figure of speech in which the name of a thing is replaced by a name usually associated with the first. When it is said that today the White House announced its decision to reject the budget proposed by Congress, the name of the building was used...

Mirror stage is an early stage in the psychological development of human beings (a stage emphasized by Lacan), in which young children begin to recognize themselves in the mirror.

Modern in philosophy is a term that generally means post-medieval and pre-contemporary. It covers the period, roughly speaking, from 1500 to the late 19th or early 20th century. In literary studies modern refers to the twentieth century. Related: Enlightenment...

Modernity is a constellation of assumptions, values and attitudes through which the modern period differs from previous epochs (for example from the Middle Ages) and, if such a time has indeed occurred, from the postmodern. Characterizing the period since it began in...

Morphology is a term traditionally used to denote a branch of linguistics dedicated to the study of the form and structure of words. In the works of Luce Irigaray and the authors she influenced, morphology means something completely different, a form of our bodily...

Motivation is a term used by Ferdinand de Saussure to denote that the connection between the signifier and the signified is in no way entirely arbitrary, that there is a "reasonable" motive for the connection between a signifier and a signified. Arbitrariness is a...

Myth comes from the Greek mythos, which means an event (or story). A term sometimes used in a very broad sense (actually in agreement with its original meaning in Greek) to denote a story; more often the word is used in a narrower sense (for example, an event or a...