Biosemiotics 3 (3):315-329 (2010)
Abstract |
In the current debates about zoosemiotics its relations with the neighbouring disciplines are a relevant topic. The present article aims to analyse the complex relations between zoosemiotics and cognitive ethology with special attention to their establishers: Thomas A. Sebeok and Donald R. Griffin. It is argued that zoosemiotics and cognitive ethology have common roots in comparative studies of animal communication in the early 1960s. For supporting this claim Sebeok’s works are analysed, the classical and philosophical periods of his zoosemiotic views are distinguished and the changing relations between zoosemiotics and cognitive ethology are described. The animal language controversy can be interpreted as the explicit point of divergence of the two paradigms, which, however, is a mere symptom of a deeper cleavage. The analysis brings out later critical differences between Sebeok’s and Griffin’s views on animal cognition and language. This disagreement has been the main reason for the critical reception and later neglect of Sebeok’s works in cognitive ethology. Sebeok’s position in this debate remains, however, paradigmatic, i.e. it proceeds from understanding of the contextualisation of semiotic processes that do not allow treating the animal mind as a distinct entity. As a peculiar parallel to Griffin’s metaphor of “animal mind”, Sebeok develops his understanding of “semiotic self” as a layered structure, characterised by an ability to make distinctions, foremost between itself and the surrounding environment. It appears that the history of zoosemiotics has two layers: in addition to the chronological history starting in 1963, when Sebeok proposed a name for the field, zoosemiotics is also philosophically rooted in Peircean semiotics and German biological philosophy. It is argued that the confrontation between zoosemiotics and cognitive ethology is related to different epistemological approaches and at least partly induced by underlying philosophical traditions
|
Keywords | Thomas A. Sebeok Donald R. Griffin History of zoosemiotics Cognitive ethology Semiotic self Animal mind Animal language controversy |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1007/s12304-010-9079-8 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience.Donald Redfield Griffin - 1976 - William Kaufmann.
Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology.Colin Allen & Marc Bekoff (eds.) - 1997 - MIT Press.
The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce.Charles Sanders Peirce, Charles Hartshorne & Paul Weiss - 1933 - International Journal of Ethics 43 (2):220-226.
View all 20 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: The Semiotic Threshold.Claudio Julio Rodríguez Higuera & Kalevi Kull - 2017 - Biosemiotics 10 (1):109-126.
Cat Cultures and Threefold Modelling of Human-Animal Interactions: On the Example of Estonian Cat Shelters.Filip Jaroš - 2018 - Biosemiotics 11 (3):365-386.
Cognitive Systems of Human and Non-Human Animals: At the Crossroads of Phenomenology, Ethology and Biosemiotics.Filip Jaroš & Matěj Pudil - 2020 - Biosemiotics 13 (2):155-177.
The Role of Image Schemas and Superior Psychic Faculties in Zoosemiosis.José Manuel Ureña Gómez-Moreno - 2014 - Biosemiotics 7 (3):405-427.
Biosemiotics Achievement Award for the Year 2018.Maurita Harney & Riin Magnus - 2019 - Biosemiotics 12 (1):189-191.
View all 6 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Cognitive Ethology: Past, Present and Speculations on the Future.Carolyn A. Ristau - 1992 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992:125 - 136.
Enter the Dragon: Sebeok’s Chinese Connection. [REVIEW]Hongbing Yu - 2013 - Biosemiotics 6 (3):561-571.
Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness.Donald R. Griffin - 2001 - University of Chicago Press.
New Evidence of Animal Consciousness.Donald R. Griffin & G. B. Speck - 2004 - Animal Cognition 7 (1):5-18.
Cognitive Ethology and the Intentionality of Animal Behavior.Colin Allen & Marc Bekoff - 1995 - Mind and Language 10 (4):313-328.
Prospects for a Cognitive Ethology.Donald R. Griffin - 1978 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1 (4):527-538.
Book Review of Allen & Bekoff on Cognitive Ethology. [REVIEW]W. H. Dittrich - forthcoming - Philosophical Explorations.
On Aims and Methods of Cognitive Ethology.Dale Jamieson & Marc Bekoff - 1992 - Philosophy of Science Association 1992:110-124.
Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology.Colin Allen & Marc Bekoff (eds.) - 1997 - MIT Press.
Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Cognitive Ethology as the Unifying Science for Understanding the Subjective, Emotional, Empathic, and Moral Lives of Animals.Marc Bekoff - 2006 - Zygon 41 (1):71-104.
Comparative Developmental Evolutionary Psychology and Cognitive Ethology: Contrasting but Compatible Research Programs.Sue Taylor Parker - 2002 - In Marc Bekoff, Colin Allen & Gordon M. Burghardt (eds.), The Cognitive Animal: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition. MIT Press.
The Informational Model of Language: Analog and Digital Coding in Animal and Human Communication (an Excerpt).Thomas A. Sebeok - 1967 - In Donald C. Hildum (ed.), Language and Thought: An Enduring Problem in Psychology. London: : Van Nostrand,. pp. 37--40.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2013-11-23
Total views
33 ( #343,143 of 2,498,492 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
3 ( #212,099 of 2,498,492 )
2013-11-23
Total views
33 ( #343,143 of 2,498,492 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
3 ( #212,099 of 2,498,492 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads