Abstract

This dissertation examines the difference between the sign-theory of John of St. Thomas, who sees the sign as a signifier of things, and the semiology of Ferdinand de Saussure, who sees the sign as a signifier of concepts. The Cursus Philosophicus Thomisticus of John of St. Thomas embodies the most fully developed theory of signs within the Scholastic period. Saussure's Cours de linguistique generale is the most influential treatment of signs within the contemporary period. ;Chapter One analyzes the positions of these two theorists with respect to written and spoken signs. Both understand these signs to be conventional entities that acquire a fixed significative value through customary use in society. Although they generally agreee on the nature of the linguistic signifier, John of St. Thomas stands opposed to Saussure's claim that the signifier stands in a direct relation to a signified or concept. Concepts are not culturally conditioned entities, but natural reflections of the real. ;Chapter Two considers John of St. Thomas' general theory of the sign. He distinguishes a general transcendental order between the intellect and what is known from both the manifestation of an object to the cognitive power ; and the substitution of the sign for its term . The essence of the sign is this latter substitutive character; the sign exists as nothing more than a pure relation to its term. ;Chapter Three sets John of St. Thomas' theory within its broader cognitive framework. It describes the function of the sign within sensation and understanding and shows how the distinction between manifestation and substitution overcomes the modern "critical" problem. The substitutive character of the formal concept ensures the truthfulness of scientific inquiry. ;The dissertation concludes by emphasizing the advantages to be gained by both contemporary linguistics and the philosophy of moderate realism when the best features of Ferdinand de Saussure's semiology and John of St. Thomas' theory of signs are combined. Saussure advances the proper understanding of the signifier; John of St. Thomas the proper understanding of the concept