Semiosis and pragmatism: toward a dynamic concept of meaning

Philosophers and social scientists of diverse orientations have suggested that the pragmatics of semiosis is germane to a dynamic account of meaning as process. Semiosis, the central focus of C. S. Peirce's pragmatic philosophy, may hold a key to perennial problems regarding meaning. Indeed, Peirce's thought should be deemed seminal when placed within the cognitive sciences, especially with respect to his concept of the sign. According to Peirce's pragmatic model, semiosis is a triadic, time-bound, context-sensitive, interpreter-dependent, materially extended dynamic process. Semiosis involves inter-relatedness and inter-action between signs, their objects, acts and events in the world, and the semiotic agents who are in the process of making and taking them

The Emergence of Symbol-Based Communication in a Complex System of Artificial Creatures

We present here a digital scenario to simulate the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a virtual world of predatory events. In order to design the environment and creatures, we seek theoretical and empirical constraints from C.S.Peirce Semiotics and an ethological case study of communication among animals. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex system, where self-organization of communicative interactions plays a major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol, communication, and emergence, and we use a multi-level model as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Art and legitimacy: from the discourse to the ideological rhetoric

The circuits of artistic legitimacy have been modified and replaced by new agents. On one hand, the "relational aesthetics" and the decentering observed in "altermodernism" (Nicolas Bourriaud). On the other, the modernist role of the academies and their respective inertia of reaction to the avant-gardes have for decades yielded their place to a "Bologna paradigm" of lifelong learning, along with the strengthening of discursive skills, both for students and for teachers (the puzzle articulation between degrees, masters and doctorates). In the field of publics, their inclusion as a relational media has created new platforms of interaction and social institution, based on informal and more interactive formulas: the associations, the collectives, the young curators. This whole movement can be framed in the so-called "educational turn", that is characterized by focusing on the public and its creation - or education - using safeguard institutions (museums, educational services, foundations) or schools and art institutes (the lifelong formation of professional artists, or the new agents (cities, artistic residences, interventions in local power)

Emergence of Self-Organized Symbol-Based Communication \ud in Artificial Creatures

In this paper, we describe a digital scenario where we simulated the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a \ud virtual world of unpredictable predatory events. In our experiment, creatures are autonomous agents that learn symbolic relations in an unsupervised manner, with no explicit feedback, and are able to engage in dynamical and autonomous communicative interactions with other creatures, even simultaneously. In order to synthesize a behavioral ecology and infer the minimum organizational constraints for the design of our creatures, \ud we examined the well-studied case of communication in vervet monkeys. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex adaptive system, where self-organized communicative interactions play a \ud major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive in this paper for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol and emergence, and we make use of a multi-level model for explaining the emergence of symbols in semiotic systems as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Ideologia: os enviesamentos estereotípicos na publicidade televisiva, em Portugal, em 2003

Tese de doutoramento em Belas Artes (Teoria da Imagem), apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa através da Faculdade de Belas Artes, 2008Acompanha a tese dois DVD's que apenas poderão ser consultados na biblioteca da FBAUL. Apendices - cota: CDA 69(1) ; versão electrónica - cota: CDA 6

The epistemic role of intermedial visual artworks: An analysis of the photobooks Palast der Republik and Domesticidades

This paper presents, describes and analyses two photobooks: Palast der Republik and Domesticidades. We claim that, because of their highly iconic features, they can be regarded as epistemic artefacts (models) since they reveal information about their objects, as well as about their own morphological properties. The analysis focuses on (i) the kind of relations the photobooks establish with their respective objects (we claim that it is a mainly-iconic relation) and (ii) on the semiotic couplings that can be found in them – a type of interaction between semiotic resources (such as photographs, maps, written texts, illustrations, among others). We contextualize this analysis in relation to both a semiotic and an intermedial background.Further, we claim that the epistemic role of such artworks is directly related to their material and structural features that constrain the possibilities of manipulation and reasoning upon them. We conclude by presenting some of the information that was revealed by the manipulation of these photobooks, claiming that the semioticartefactual approach to models can be an epistemically interesting conceptual frame to thinking about artistic artefacts

The role of alternative specimens in toxicological analysis

The use of alternative specimens in the field of toxicology was first described in 1979, where hair analysis was used to document chronic drug exposure. Since then, the use of these “alternative” samples has gained tremendous importance in forensic toxicology, as well as in clinic toxicology, doping control and workplace drug testing. It’s not surprising, therefore, that a big number of papers dealing with the determination of several classes of drugs in saliva, sweat, meconium and hair have been published ever since, which is due to the fact that chromatographic equipments are becoming more and more sensitive being mass spectrometry (and tandem mass spectrometry) the most widely used analytical tool, combined with gas or liquid chromatography. “Alternative” specimens present a number of advantages over the “traditional” samples normally used in toxicology (e.g. blood, urine and tissues), namely the fact that their collection is not invasive, their adulteration is difficult, and they may allow the increasing of the windows of detection for certain drugs. The main disadvantage of this kind of samples is that drugs are present in very low concentrations, and therefore high sensitive techniques are required to accomplish the analysis. This paper reviews a series of publications on the use of alternative specimens, with special focus on the main analytical and chromatographic problems that these samples present, as well on their advantages and disadvantages over traditional samples in documenting drug exposure

Icons and abduction

In our effort to relate abductive process to iconic semiosis, we argue that meaning begins the process of its development as an icon, and logic of abduction is the logic responsible for this iconic process. Our aim here is to explore the relationship between Peirce’s notion of abductive inference and iconic semiosis. In order properly to develop our argument, it behooves us to offer a brief introduction that includes: (i) the basic characteristics of abduction, (ii) Peirce’s concept of semiosis, (iii) Peirce’s categories of mind, and signs processes, and (iv) the nature of the iconic sign

Criatividade e construção de nichos cognitivos em L’opera per flauto de Salvatore Sciarrino

The emergence of new musical ideas, and new forms of musicality, is described here as the transformation of conceptual spaces in a cognitive niche, a distributed and self-organised set of intergenerational concepts, materials, and actions. According to this approach, there is a direct co-dependence relation, a co-evolutionary causal looping, between new, acceptable (valid) and surprising musical ideas (which define what is creative in a certain context), agents, tools and artifacts (instruments, musical notations, types of equipment, performance space), and conceivable epistemic and pragmatic actions (instrument techniques, dynamics of collaboration, scenic procedures). This co-evolutionary relation defines a conceptual space of musicality. To demonstrate our thesis, we detail the development of extended techniques for transverse flute, a phenomenon strongly dependent on performer-composer collaboration. We focus on Salvatore Sciarrino’s L’opera per flauto (1990), which was developed in an intensive work with the flautist Roberto Fabbriciani, through investigation of sounding possibilities of the instrument. The collaboration resulted in new and surprising sounds for the transverse flute, including the combination of extended techniques, and their notation, largely applied by later repertoire.El surgimiento de nuevas ideas musicales y nuevas formas de musicalidad se describe en este trabajo como la transformación de espacios conceptuales en un nicho cognitivo, un conjunto distribuido y autoorganizado de conceptos, materiales y acciones intergeneracionales. De acuerdo con este enfoque, existe una relación codependiente directa, un looping causal coevolutivo, entre ideas musicales nuevas, aceptables (válidas) y sorprendentes (que definen lo que es creativo en un contexto determinado), agentes, herramientas y artefactos (instrumentos, notaciones musicales, tipos de equipamiento, espacio de actuación) y acciones epistémicas y pragmáticas concebibles (técnicas instrumentales, dinámicas colaborativas, procedimientos escénicos). Esta relación coevolutiva define un espacio conceptual de musicalidad. Para demostrar nuestra tesis, detallamos el desarrollo de técnicas extendidas para la flauta travesera, un fenómeno que depende en gran medida de la colaboración entre compositor e intérprete. Nos centramos en L’opera per flauto (1990), de Salvatore Sciarrino, que se desarrolló en un intenso trabajo con el flautista Roberto Fabbriciani, a través de la investigación de las posibilidades sonoras del instrumento. La colaboración dio como resultado sorprendentes nuevos sonidos para la flauta travesera, incluida la combinación de técnicas extendidas y su notación, ampliamente aplicada por el repertorio posterior.O surgimento de novas ideias musicais e de novas formas de musicalidade é descrito neste trabalho como a transformação de espaços conceituais em um nicho cognitivo, um conjunto distribuído e auto-organizado de conceitos, materiais e ações intergeracionais. De acordo com essa abordagem, há uma relação direta de codependência, um looping causal coevolutivo, entre ideias musicais novas, aceitáveis (válidas) e surpreendentes (que definem o que é criativo em um determinado contexto), agentes, ferramentas e artefatos (instrumentos, notações musicais, tipos de equipamentos, espaço de performance) e ações epistêmicas e pragmáticas concebíveis (técnicas de instrumentos, dinâmicas de colaboração, procedimentos cênicos). Essa relação coevolutiva define um espaço conceitual de musicalidade. Para demonstrar nossa tese, detalhamos o desenvolvimento de técnicas estendidas para flauta transversal, um fenômeno fortemente dependente da colaboração compositor-intérprete. Focamos em L’opera per flauto (1990), de Salvatore Sciarrino, que foi desenvolvida em um intenso trabalho com o flautista Roberto Fabbriciani, por meio da investigação das possibilidades sonoras do instrumento. A colaboração resultou em novas e surpreendentes sonoridades para a flauta transversal, incluindo a combinação de técnicas estendidas e sua notação, amplamente aplicadas pelo repertório posterior