Last time, we examined the Two Flows of Semiosis, and in this post, we will explore how these two flows can be divided into four distinct parts. These four parts are the Four Phases, resulting in a total of eight concepts to explore. See the diagram below:
I will continue to treat these flows separately for now, as their cooperation in feedback cycles will be discussed in the future. In this post I will provide a very basic overview of these flows within the context of the Four Phases to give you a general understanding of their meaning.
The logical dependency remains the same as before. The more fundamental phase of the flow is always incorporated into the more developed phase of the flow. In the context of the diagram, the more fundamental phase is depicted as being lower. Let's begin with the ampliative upward flow on the left side of the diagram.
Upward flow of Ampliative Reasoning
This is pretty much known to us at this point, but let’s go through it once more. I’ll try to highlight some new aspects.
Perceiving
Perception is fundamental. Everything that exists perceives in some extent. The starting point in perception is the qualitative continuum.
Example: An oil droplet in water is perceiving its environment so that it can adjust itself in a manner that prevents its dissolution to water. Aesthetic perception of qualities (forms, colors, odors, sound etc.) Perception of dark grey.
(Experiencing (Perceiving))
Experience can be thought as informative perception or perception of meaning. Some sign is abstracted from the qualitative continuum to be further inquired.
Example: Trying to figure out what something is. A perception grows into a sign that you recognize as a dark cloud.
(Understanding (Experiencing (Perceiving)))
Understanding is comprehending the living pattern guiding the behavior of the experienced and perceived sign(s) in some context.
Example: Learning conventions and rituals. Learning skills such as walking or driving. Understanding that dark clouds in the sky precede rain.
(Sharing (Understanding (Experiencing (Perceiving))))
Sharing is communicating general (symbolic) meaning in a community. “Detaching” some general concrete pattern to be shared across different contexts.
Example: Discourse, debate, dialogue, conversations, writing etc. Telling your buddy that it is going to rain soon.
Downward flow of Deductive Reasoning
In this flow, the information we have embodied flows downwards to be applied in practice. This is fundamental to the dynamic interplay between us and our environment. Without the downward flow, we would be detached from the world, unable to interact with it.
Acting
Action is fundamental. Everything that exists must act, at the very least, to actively resist dissipating forces. Being is doing. Being is a verb. When a living organism dies, action ceases, and it dissipates into the environment. Acting is unconscious and beyond our control.
Example: An oil droplet is acting in a way, which prevents its dissolution in water. The cell acts to maintain its membrane. Your eyes move and muscles contract when you perceive. Instinctive emotions when hearing an unknown sound. Reflexes and flinching. Closing your eyes before something hits them.
(Executing (Acting))
Execution is deliberate and controlled action, whereas acting is unconscious and instinctual. Execution is carried out based on something meaningful, while action is a blind and brute reaction. Execution is a response to a recognized sign, whereas action is a reflexive response to some perception. This can be illustrated by the difference between being frightened by a loud bang and running away, versus recognizing the bang as the starting pistol and beginning the race.
Example: A dog obeying commands. A rabbit choosing the path to escape. A ballerina executing movements gracefully. A soldier executing orders. Playing a phrase, while improvising. Manual blinking of eyes and manual breathing (I’m sorry).
(Instructing (Executing (Acting)))
Instructing is the application of a contextual and context-dependent habit to execute certain actions. When action runs smoothly in a specific context, we are allowing habits to instruct, guide, and govern our behavior. Instructions dictate how we should execute our actions in a given situation.
Example: A cat teaching its kittens to hunt mice. A mother hushing to her child instructing her to be quiet. Traffic rules instructing our driving. Social norms instructing our behavior. Choosing the right skill to apply in a situation. Letting the musical moment instruct the improvisation.
(Controlling (Instructing (Executing (Acting))))
Controlling is the power of a context-independent rule to instruct (in concrete situations) the habitual execution of actions. It is the power of ideals, ideologies and theories to shape and govern us throughout many situations. For instance, your world view is like lens through which you view the world. Controlling symbols shape your behavior as they flows down to inform your action. Two persons, with two different world views, facing the exact same situation, will behave differently.
Example: Linguistic rules controlling the use of language. Ideologies controlling our framing of reality. Religions controlling our way of life. Symbolic identities shaping us (punkrocker, socialist, atheist, nationality, “As an…”).
Semiosis is the Ultimate Fundament
Hopefully, you are as eager to apply this tool to everything. It's fun to try to recognize different situations and things using these eight different aspects of semiosis. However, before we get too carried away with classifications and taxonomies, it's good to pause for a moment and regain the overview of what we are trying to achieve.
These aspects do not form a rigid taxonomy where individual things are classified into a firm logical structure. We are not pointing at individual signs saying "this is experiencing, that is instructing, and those things are perceptions." That completely misses the point. Nevertheless, that is something we often find ourselves doing. We must avoid pigeonholing.
You see, we have a deep tendency to view signs as individual and distinct entities in space-time, much like how we would identify and classify playing cards in a deck.
However, this is a false view. As we know the being of sign is not about matter. Sign is a logical entity. Furthermore, signs and semiosis are continuous processes, which makes it impossible to strictly separate or make ultimate distinctions between signs.
Below you see the color spectrum. Now, at which point the orange turns to red? Obviously, there is no one point as the spectrum is continuous. The point you choose is always more or less arbitrary. Nevertheless, there is a distinction to be made between orange and red.
In the same manner, signs can be logically classified, but the the boundaries between different types of signs are always fuzzy. The signs we encounter in our life are an amalgam of different signs and their classification always involves some degree of arbitrariness.
But we can make even more fundamental point. We often thing signs as secondary phenomena. For instance, it is commonly held view that semiosis begins with intelligent organisms. Some may even hold the view that semiosis is limited to humans and language.
However, with the Semiotic Mindset we have to view semiosis as the most fundamental structure in our universe. It precedes EVERYTHING else. Even space and time. Therefore:
Semiosis is not a process unfolding in space-time, rather, space-time is formed through semiosis.
Yes, semiosis is more fundamental than space or time. Unfortunately, in order to explore this question in more detail, we need the complete logic of 66 signs. So, we’ll have to leave this question for now.
Semiotic Mindset
So, what then is the correct mindset to approach these things?
Semiotics is a logic, but the term "logic" often gives rise to misconceptions about it. It is not deductive logic but ampliative logic. Instead of merely analytically labeling and confining things, semiotics aims to open up and broaden our understanding.
With the Semiotic Mindset and with the help of these diagrams, we seek to discover new relations between things. Semiotics is not about restricting interpretation, rather we unfold possibilities to be inquired from many perspectives. We must embrace the stream of semiosis and let it carry us to new discoveries and new places.
The Semiotic Mindset is about discovering relations and relational networks. It is seeing the relational tissue connecting things to one another. Everything is connected, and semiotics helps us to make sense of this dense web of relations.
The diagrams greatly assist us in navigating this web fluidly. They allow us to transition seamlessly between different perspectives. We can shift from viewing things from a fundamental aesthetic standpoint to perceiving them as symbols guiding us.
We free our mind for play and musement. The diagram serves as our map, guiding us as we explore the numerous streams of semiosis.
The Vagueness of Semiosis
I’m sure that you remember how semiosis is vague. There are no definitive and rigid boundaries between signs. However, there is another crucial point that needs to be emphasized.
Namely, everything can simultaneously function as every type of sign. Things are not limited to being solely one type of sign. The exact same thing can be viewed in its qualities (1stness), as something forceful (2ndness), and as something presenting information (3rdness). All at the same time.
A sharp sound (1stness), captures my attention (2ndness) informing that the microwave has finished cooking (3rdness).
Therefore it important to practice this skill and understand the movement within the diagram. That is exactly what we do now as the last thing in this post.
Walking in the Park
You are walking in the park, and you come across some trash on the grass. You pick it up and put it into the trash can. What just happened?
Maybe it is about your desire to keep parks clean. If there is trash in the park it has to be cleaned. This is a context-dependent habit instructing your behavior. Trash in the back of the alley would not elicit the same response.
But there is more to this. Maybe you have the belief that humans have a certain responsibility towards nature. You didn’t clean the trash simply for mundane practical reasons. There is an living idea behind it, controlling the behavior. There is a deeper, more general meaning. You understand this act as an instance of the relation between humankind and nature.
Now, back to the practical. This control of the idea and the instructing of the context led you to execute a movement pattern of picking up trash and putting it into the trashcan. You grabbed the trash in a certain way. Maybe carefully so that it would not make your clothes or hands dirty. There was a conscious deliberate execution of the act.
At the most fundamental level you used force to move. There is an action. Your muscles contract, you apply pressure, you shift your balance. But it isn’t mere action, jumping back to the top of the diagram, it is the outward manifestation of an idea.
You see how the exact same action can be looked from four different levels. We can’t reduce this thing to just one place. It can be in all of them depending on how we interpret it.
Sitting on the Train
You are sitting on a train. Then there is an announcement of the next station.
Obviously this announcement shares information. It is a symbol, as it is language. The announcement does not only say the name of the station, in addition it shares further information about other trains and possible connections.
When the announcement is understood (in context), people pack their stuff and get ready to leave the train. The announcement functions as a “trigger” for the habits guiding these types of situations. This is something that even dogs can learn. If a guiding dog travels everyday the same route, it can learn on which station it should leave.
The dog does not possess the capacity to engage in the symbolic sharing of information. It cannot comprehend that the announcement provides additional details about platforms and departure times for other trains. Instead, the dog interprets the announcement as a practical, context-dependent habit: “When this particular sound is heard in this context, I must leave the train.”
The announcement can also be considered from its presentative character. It is something happening here and now. It is experienced. The announcement is embedded in this particular context. It is happening in this exact train at this exact moment. Conversely, the previous meditations were concerned with the general nature of semiosis.
By sharing we mean the symbolic, often linguistic, meaning carried by the sign, which is context-independent. If I write the announcement here, you would understand it, even though you aren’t probably in a train right now.
With understanding we are speaking about context-dependent habits. In trains there is a habit of announcing the next station shortly before arriving on that station. Even if you don’t understand the announcement, say you are traveling abroad, you still understand the contextual meaning of that announcement.
The point is that we are speaking about general things: habits, tendencies, regularities, laws etc. We speak of these types of situations in general. On the contrary, with experience, we move to the particular. Every experience is unique. You can never step on the same river twice. Every moment is different, whereas the habitual meaning of the announcement stays the same. Every particular day is different, but the type of situation stays the same.
However, through experience, you become more attuned to your own mind and its workings. How do you interpret this announcement? Are you filled with joy that you have arrived home? Does the announcement leave you feeling bored because the journey is still long? These are your experiences, unfolding right here and now.
But we can go even deeper to the most fundamental level — perception. How the qualities aesthetically present them selves to you in that moment? How does the stream of semiosis feel? Is it colorful? Does it smell funny? Is it loud?
There is no information at this level. Things just are what they are. Only qualities in themselves, appearing to you right here and right now. An embedded perception in a flow of feeling. Which, jumping again back to the top, forms the basis for sharing the information about the departure times for other trains
Again, the same thing, from four different perspectives.
Summary
Slowly but surely, the diagram comes to life. Currently, we hold a rather static notion of it. However, in the upcoming post, we will begin to apply it in a more dynamic manner.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you found this post intriguing, I encourage you to share it with others.
Sincerely,
Markus