Semiotics and Phenomenology: New Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Despite considerable thematic overlap within the broad domain of (human) meaning making, and occasional productive crossovers such as Merleau-Ponty’s creative assimilations of the work of Saussure, the disciplines of semiotics and phenomenology have had surprisingly few explicit encounters. At times it has appeared almost as if Peirce and Husserl had lived in parallel universes. In recent decades, however, this has been changing, and we are witnessing examples of rapprochement from both directions. Along with their productive engagement with enactive and embodied paradigms in cognitive science, many phenomenologists have needed to deal with issues such as imagery, gesture and language, thus finding themselves in semiotic territory. On their side, researchers in semiotics and linguistics (it is hard to keep the boundary distinct, especially with the ascent of cognitive and “multimodal” linguistics) have increasingly turned toward phenomenology for uncovering the various layers of lived experience and intentionality. Further, given the emphasis on pre-predicative experience in much of phenomenology, and on sign use (including but also going beyond language) in semiotics, collaboration between the two approaches seems especially called for. This would allow a better understanding of the interactions between the various layers of human meaning making, from perception and movement to language and technology.

Hence, we envision this Special Issue as a forum for fruitful dialogue between scholars who mostly identify phenomenology or semiotics, but it is open to the other tradition, or even to those who already view themselves as involved in blends such as phenomenological semiotics or semiotic (or structural) phenomenology. Accordingly, we invite original research articles that address topics such as the following, without being limited to them:

• Theoretical discussions of relations between Husserlean and Peircean concepts, such as intentionality and semiosis;
• Interactions between pre-signitive and signitive intentionality;
• Interactions between language and consciousness;
• The dialectics of spontaneity and sedimenation;
• Elucidating a particular sign system like language, gesture or depiction with the help of phenomenology;
• Empirical domains of meaning making (e.g., education, technology, design) approached within a phenomenological semiotics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions!

Prof. Dr. Jordan Zlatev
Prof. Dr. Göran Sonesson
Guest Editors

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