Towards a Semiotic Biology

The book presents the programmatic texts of biosemiotics, written collectively by the world leading scholars in the field (Deacon, Emmeche, Favareau, Hoffmeyer, Kull, Marko, Pattee, Stjernfelt). In addition, the book also includes chapters on semiotic case studies (Bruni, Kotov, Maran, Neuman, Turovski). According to the central thesis of this approach, the sign processes are the ones that characterise all living systems and the very nature of life, and its diverse phenomena can be best explained via the dynamics and typology of sign relations. This implies a new view on biological evolution, intentionality of organisms, the role of communication in the living world, and the nature of sign systems topics described in the volume. This has also important consequences to the methodology and epistemology of biology and study of life phenomena in general.