Claus Emmeche: A semiotical reflection on biology, living signs and artificial life
A semiotical reflection on biology, living signs and artificial life
Claus Emmeche, 1991, Biology and philosophy, 6(3): 325-340.
ABSTRACT:
It is argued, that theory of signs, especially in the tradition of the great philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) can inspire the study of central problems in the philosophy of biology. Three such problems are considered: 1. The nature of biology as a science, where a semiotically informed pluralistic approach to the theory of science is introduced. 2. The peculiarity of the general object of biology, where a realistic interpretation of sign- and information-concepts is required to see sign-processes as immanent in nature. 3. The possibility of an artificial construction of life, hereby discussed as a conceptual problem in the present form of the artificial life project and its implied definition of life.
KEY WORDS: philosophy of science, biology, semiotics, sign, information, Peirce, teleology, artificial life, semiotic realism.
Claus Emmeche, 1991, Biology and philosophy, 6(3): 325-340.
ABSTRACT:
It is argued, that theory of signs, especially in the tradition of the great philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) can inspire the study of central problems in the philosophy of biology. Three such problems are considered: 1. The nature of biology as a science, where a semiotically informed pluralistic approach to the theory of science is introduced. 2. The peculiarity of the general object of biology, where a realistic interpretation of sign- and information-concepts is required to see sign-processes as immanent in nature. 3. The possibility of an artificial construction of life, hereby discussed as a conceptual problem in the present form of the artificial life project and its implied definition of life.
KEY WORDS: philosophy of science, biology, semiotics, sign, information, Peirce, teleology, artificial life, semiotic realism.