Abstract
This paper interrogates the conditions of possibility of the European constitution and asks where we must search for these conditions. Beyond common historical and cultural traditions, beyond some pact or convention, a third possibility is considered: the idea that Europe has no future without a European constitution founded on awareness that all European nations participate in a common destiny, which in the era of globalization is the destiny of the whole world. Such participation must be based on the logic of otherness and reasonableness of which the human being alone as a semiotic animal is capable.
About the author
Augusto Ponzio (b. 1942) is Full Professor of Philosophy of Language and General Linguistics and Head of the Department of Linguistic Practices and Text Analysis at Bari University, Italy 〈augustoponzio@libero.it〉. His principal research interests include philosophy of language, general linguistics, semiotics, and theory of literature. His recent major publications include L'io semiotico (with Thomas A. Sebeok and Susan Petrilli, 2001); and the following with S. Petrilli: I segni e la vita. La semiotica globale di Thomas A. Sebeok (2002); Semioetica (2003); Views in Literary Semiotics (2003); Semiotics Unbounded (2005); and The Semiotic Animal (with J. Deely, 2005).
© Walter de Gruyter
