Ecosemiotics: main principles and current developments

Maran, Timo; Kull, Kalevi

doi:10.1111/geob.12035

Cited by 72 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…As established heretofore, cenoscopic ecology and semiotics share basic premises, and one can imagine ecosophy would in turn show a good deal of common traits with semiotics, and presumably even more so with ecosemiotics (Nöth 1998(Nöth , 2001Kull 1998;Maran, Kull 2014) and semioethics (Petrilli 2014;Deely 2008). Th is is true, indeed.…”

Section: Two Versions Of Ecosophy: a Comparative Approachmentioning

confidence: 89%

Two versions of ecosophy: Arne Næss, Félix Guattari, and their connection with semiotics

Lévesque

2016

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Abstract.Th is paper adopts a comparative approach in order to appreciate the distinct contributions of Arne Naess and Félix Guattari to ecosophy and their respective connections to semiotics. Th e foundational holistic worldview and dynamics ecosophy propounds show numerous connections with semiotics. Th e primary objective of this paper is to question the nature and value of these connections. Historically, the development of ecosophy was always faced with modelling and communication issues, which constitute an obvious common ground shared with semiotics. As a means to an end, ecosophy settled to develop a thoughtful axiology based on ecological wisdom and promote it bottom-up. Political activism notwithstanding, semiotics also deals with value: sign value and meaning. In this respect, semiotics is inherently axiological, but most oft en this dimension is eff aced or muted. Emphasizing the axiological dimension of semiotics helps understand how dominant signifi cations, habits, and values are established, and enlighten the crucial part it could play in the humanities and beyond by partly coalescing with ecosophy. As the complementarity of both traditions is appreciated, the plausibility of a merger is assessed. Arguably, ecosophy is axiomatized semiotics. From this novel perspective, one can see human communities as dynamically partaking in signifying processes, in a space that is at once an ecosphere, a semiosphere, and a vast political territory. As there is growing evidence that environmental degradation lessens our quality of life and the sustainability of our communities, ecosophy might help reform values and practices.

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Section: Two Versions Of Ecosophy: a Comparative Approachmentioning

confidence: 89%

Two versions of ecosophy: Arne Næss, Félix Guattari, and their connection with semiotics

Lévesque

2016

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“…The mutual activation of human and non-human semiotic processes and characteristics is central for an ecosemiotic approach to human-environment relations (see Maran, Kull 2014), which we use as a departure point along with an environmental historical perspective. In addition, the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics has highlighted the dynamics of forgetting and remembering as the ultimate grounds for any kind of meaning generation, which is reflected also in their notion of 'cultural memory' (Lotman 2013a(Lotman [1986(Lotman ], 2013b(Lotman [1985; Lotman et al 1978Lotman et al [1971).…”

Section: Riin Magnus Heldur Sandermentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia

Magnus

Sander²

2019

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Urban trees are considered to be essential and integral to urban environments, to contribute to the biodiversity of cities as well as to the well-being of their inhabitants. In addition, urban trees may also serve as living memorials, helping to remember major social eruptions and to cement continuity with the past, but also as social disruptors that can induce clashes between different ideals of culture. In this paper, we focus on a specific case, a Ginkgo biloba specimen growing at Süda Street in the centre of Tallinn, in order to demonstrate how the shifts in the meaning attributed to a non-human organism can shape cultural memory and underlie social confrontations. Integrating an ecosemiotic approach to human-non-human interactions with Juri Lotman’s approach to cultural memory and cultural space, we point out how non-human organisms can delimit cultural space at different times and how the ideal of culture is shaped by different ways of incorporating or other species in the human cultural ideal or excluding them from it.

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“…Timo Maran and Kalevi Kull (2014) have provided a list of eight key principles deemed central to ecosemiotics, intended to integrate different aspects of the field within a coherent framework. Of particular relevance here is the assertion that cultural phenomena represent both a part and a meta-level of the ecosemiotic network connecting sign relations with other ecological factors (Maran, Kull 2014: 45).…”

Section: Ecosemiotics and Environmental Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

The circle and the maze: Two images of ecosemiotics

Clements

2016

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Abstract. This article compares the work of Jakob von Uexküll and Charles S. Peirce to elucidate two contrasting yet connected images of ecosemiotics. The intent is not simply to oppose their work, but to explore a tension which has implications for the ethical dimension of this emerging discipline. Uexküll's functional cycle is associated with the image of a circle, which, while emphasizing the integration of organism and environment, is shown to invoke solipsism, and an overly deterministic depiction of ecological relations. Peirce's drawing of a labyrinth is taken to represent a maze, which, while exemplifying the evolutionary play of ecosystems, may entail a level of unpredictability that is catastrophically chaotic. The root of these diverging depictions is identified with the role of subjectivity in engendering semiotic relations in the work of both Uexküll and Peirce. Where the more regressive aspects of Uexküll's theoretical biology are mitigated by a teleological interpretation of life's underlying causality, orientating agency within Peirce's work depends upon attention to the idea of the self in his philosophy of signs. In conclusion, Eduardo Kohn's conception of an 'ecology of selves' is cited, and the status of the organism as a living symbol of its environment is reaffirmed.

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Ecosemiotics: main principles and current developments

Cited by 72 publications

References 45 publications

Two versions of ecosophy: Arne Næss, Félix Guattari, and their connection with semiotics

Two versions of ecosophy: Arne Næss, Félix Guattari, and their connection with semiotics

Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia

The circle and the maze: Two images of ecosemiotics

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