this is the post title
July 27, 2005 9:37 PM   Subscribe

Semiotics for beginners. via Michael Bérubé
posted by kenko (21 comments total)
 
Will there be a test?
posted by semmi at 10:17 PM on July 27, 2005


Yes.
posted by kenko at 10:31 PM on July 27, 2005


Very cool.

And consider the source, Michael Bérubé is the Al Jackson Jr. of literary theory, after all.
posted by y2karl at 10:34 PM on July 27, 2005


This is pretty old. But I'll forgive you. Semiotics is a topic for which I know a lot of sites.
posted by nightchrome at 10:42 PM on July 27, 2005


You can't use a bulldozer to study orchids!
posted by shoepal at 10:59 PM on July 27, 2005 [1 favorite]


"the extent to which a text may be perceived as 'real' depends in part on the medium employed."

The one thing I find with Metafilter is the amazing variety of realities there are. On one end of a spectrum, you have the "this isn't real" users, and on the other who take it to the opposite extreme, with most of us falling somewhere in between.

Yet because none of us really agree on how real Metafilter is, it is then a source of conflict. The one end, the user who doesn't think anything here is real tries to burn this place down to the ground as often as possible because it isn't real anyway, and it is fun to mess with the people on the opposite end of the spectrum who take it "too seriously." "It's just a website."

Those people who do take it really seriously tend to be rigid about the rules, and can't understand why no one else seems to treat Metafilter with the same reverence.

I often wonder how much of that has to do with the medium of communication - the "virtual" (and thus unreal) community (Metafilter), where anonymous users communicate via text.

I really don't know. I am not ashamed to admit that most of the semiotics I have read has gone right over my head. Reading Saussre, Barthes and (especially) Baudrillard make me feel really stupid.
posted by Quartermass at 11:50 PM on July 27, 2005


I hold a grudge against Eco.
posted by NinjaPirate at 1:50 AM on July 28, 2005


Just FYI: I've got the book, and it's worth having. Should have more about C.S.Peirce, but then again, many writings about semiotics overlook him entirely.
posted by re6smith at 2:36 AM on July 28, 2005


Looks like a great intro. Can't wait to get into it when I have some time...
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:36 AM on July 28, 2005


Neat! If only all the judges and pundits blabbing about "originalism" would read this. (Nino Scalia, I'm talking to you!)
posted by footnote at 6:56 AM on July 28, 2005


Not surprised that they ignore Peirce, most of the pragmatists get ignored by the (current) mainstream philosophical traditions. This seems to be changing, but I wouldn't expect recognition of people like Peirce anytime soon.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:20 AM on July 28, 2005


I got about halfway through the introduction before my head started spinning.
posted by jonmc at 8:44 AM on July 28, 2005



I got about halfway through the introduction before my head started spinning.


Ditto. I guess I'm not yet a beginner.
posted by jimmy76 at 11:49 AM on July 28, 2005


Nightchrome: - care to provide additional links? I'd be interested
posted by darsh at 12:39 PM on July 28, 2005


The menu is not the meal.

I will try to read the Intro, but really...What is the symbolism of a graphical wire coil interrupting and making the text illegible?

I hope not that it is unconfined by the boundaries of brain function...
posted by gorgor_balabala at 1:34 PM on July 28, 2005



The menu is not the meal.

That's semiotics? Then semiotics must be the study of the incredibly obvious.
posted by jonmc at 3:31 PM on July 28, 2005


jonmc, that is a quote of allan watts.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 4:41 PM on July 28, 2005


whups, allan alan
posted by gorgor_balabala at 4:43 PM on July 28, 2005


(And it's "not semiotics"...)
posted by gorgor_balabala at 4:45 PM on July 28, 2005


alan watts? Charlie's brother, right?
posted by jonmc at 4:52 PM on July 28, 2005


JONMC MAKES MUSIC REFERENCE
FILM AT 11
posted by kenko at 6:31 PM on July 28, 2005


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