Naturalizing Semiotics. Perspectives and Limitations

This article puts the work of Jean Petitot into the context of “Naturalized Semiotics”. First, the historical roots of such an enterprise since antiquity are sketched. Second, the contrast to and conflict with classical structuralism in linguistics and semiotics is emphasized. In the central section, the development of catastrophe theoretical models based on Thom, R.: Stabilité structurelle et morphogenèse, Interéditions, Paris (1972) and Thom, R.: Esquisse d’une Sémiophysique, InterEditions, Paris (1988) is described based on the contributions by Jean Petitot, Per Aage Brandt, and the author. Relevant differences in these authors’ use of mathematical tools are accentuated. The respective strategies of model building and the techniques of empirical evaluation vary with the preferred disciplinary context of the authors: mathematics and philosophy of science for Jean Petitot, semiotics and the aesthetics of literature, art, and music for Per Aage Brandt, linguistics and multimodal interactions with music, art, and religion for the author. In the last section, the limits of the morphodynamic program in the context of other unifying and interdisciplinary tendencies in the humanities are discussed, and a list of mistakes that should be avoided is drawn up.