Stare pro comes from Latin and literally means “stands instead”. From antiquity to the present day, the function of one thing standing instead of another is taken to be the definition of the sign (see aliquid stat pro aliquo).
In one of the most famous texts in the history of semiotics, Aristotle could be interpreted to say that the spoken sign stands in place of the mental sign and the written sign.
Human impressions and ideas are signs in themselves. They stand instead of things outside the soul (or in more modern terms – instead of things that are independent of reason).
Aristotle suggests that although we speak and write in different languages, we form the same ideas and (through these ideas) get to know the same world.
In modern times, this position has been severely tested.
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