Entangling Forms: Within Semiosic Processes

Floyd Merrell

Sep 2010 · Semiotics, Communication and Cognition [SCC] Book 5 · Walter de Gruyter

About this ebook

The volume draws from Charles S. Peirce's pragmatic philosophy, as well as from diverse areas in contemporary arts and sciences, and certain facets of Buddhist philosophy – especially regarding notions of interconnectedness, self-organization, and co-participation of the knowing subject with her inner world, her socio-cultural world, and her physical environment. Contradictory, complementary, and coalescence are also fundamental watchwords, in addition to entanglement. 'Contradictory', since conflicts, clashes and inconsistencies there will always be, in spite attempts to resolve them. 'Complementarity', since poles of opposition can at least provisionally be resolved by mediation and moderation, however vaguely and ambiguously, such that consonance might emerge from dissonance, balance from imbalance, and accord from discord. And 'coalescence', since the union of disparities is an ongoing, and always incomplete, process; it is never fixed product. These concepts, along with the key word, entanglement, place Peirce in a new light, giving rise to new questions and possible responses from readers who are searching for alternate means of understanding in our increasingly complex, rapidly globalizing world.

About the author

Floyd Merrell, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.