Sein Und Schein: Explorations in Existential Semiotics

478 Pages·2015·5.983 MB·English

by  Eero Tarasti

EeroTarasti
SeinundSchein

Eero Tarasti
Sein und Schein
|
Explorations in Existential Semiotics
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Preface to Sein und Schein
Ihavethefeelingthatthetitleofthisbook,onceconceivedinatalkwithAnke
Beck,mypublisher,shouldindeedcorrespondtothecontents.Whatisnamely
proposedhereisthatIstartwithratherphilosophicalreflectionsonwhatcould
becalled‘ontologico-transcendental’issuesofexistentialsemiotics.Sothisiscer-
tainly about ‘Being’. Yet, what follows is, chapter by chapter, more about ‘Ap-
pearance’,i.e.,theempiricalworldinwhichwelive,fromculturalcasestudies
toperformanceandevensuch‘lesserarts’asgastronomy.
TheReadermayaskwhattheunifyingfactorbehindsuchdiversitythenis.
Theansweris:thenewphaseoftheexistentialsemiotics,thisparadigmofsign
studieswhichIlaunchedasearlyas2000,withthefirstmonographpublishedin
EnglishbyIndianaUniversityPress.Itwasfollowedbyexpandedanddeepened
versions in different languages in which the original theory was elaborated on
in many directions. These were Fondements de la sémiotique existentielle 2009
(Paris:L’Harmattan)andFondamentidisemioticaesistenziale2009(Roma,Bari:
GiuseppeLaterza);moreover,theyalsoappearedintheseyearsinBulgarianand
Chinese;andtranslationsintoTurkishandFarsiareinprocess.
Inthisavenuetowardsrenewalofalreadyexisting‘classical’approachesto
semiotics,mytheoryisgrowingfromtherootsofEuropeansemiotics,andpartic-
ularlytheso-calledParisschoolofsemiotics,oncecreatedbyA.J.Greimas.Inthis
path,a.o.,thesemioticsquarebecamea‘Z-model’,andlikewisemanyelements
werechanged.However,inthissituationof‘neosemiotics’asIhavecalledit,one
canalsocontinuetobeGreimassian,Lotmanian,Peirceanwithoutworries–the
classicaltheoriesdonotlosetheirvalidityinthestudyofourDasein.However,the
newtheoryoffersperhapsabroadercontext,oritislikeGreimasputit‘englobant’,
surrounding.
On the other hand, existential semiotics stems from the continental philo-
sophyofthelinefromKant,Hegel,andKierkegaardtoHeidegger,Jaspers,Arendt,
Sartre,Marcel,andWahl.Whattheword‘existential’immediatelyevokestomost
isofcourseexistentialism.Nevertheless,thisisbynomeanstobeunderstoodas
anykindofreturntoexistentialism.Wenevergoback,wearein2015now,and
thetheorywrittennowhastoreflectitsparticularconditions.
Whatemergesisperhapsanefforttounderstandbasicissuesofthecontem-
poraryworld,itsethicalandaxiologicalproblems,eventoproposeatheoryof
resistance,answeringtothesamequestiononceproposedbyLevTolstoi:What
dowehavetodo?Yet,myconvictionisthatasermondoesnothelp;wemusthave
atheoryifwewanttogetsomemorelastingeffects.
vi | PrefacetoSeinundSchein
Sowearehereonthewaytoasynthesisofbothsemioticandphilosophical
tradition.Itisobviousthatwearemovingtowardsthesocialissues,psychology
ofculture;althoughsemioticsisneverthesameaspsychology,itsmetalanguage
isconceptual.Anyway,issueslikeBakhtin’sdialogism,criticismofsomecultural
theoriesarethedirectionofthesereflections.Allthiswithoutforgettingtherad-
ical consequences which such difficult notions as ‘transcendence’ can bring to
semiotics.However,andafterall,isitnottruethatthewholesemioticsisatran-
scendentalart?EveryactofcommunicationistheeffortofMr.Atoreachthe‘alien
psychic’(Fremdseelig)consciousnessofMr.B,toparaphrasealittledeSaussure.
Andeverysign,isitnotreferringtosomethingabsent,i.e.,transcendental?
Theoriesgrowfromothertheoriesandfromtheworksofotherscholars.This
istakenintoaccountherewithapanoramaofprecursorsofexistentialsemiotics,
whereratheramazingnamesmayappearinthiscontext.Andalltheworkofsemi-
oticianshasbeenmadepossiblebycertainorganizingandinstitutionalactivities,
whichhavemadethisesotericsciencesomethingexperientialandconcrete.This
factisrecalledbytheconcludingchapterofthebook,CanSemioticsBeOrganized.
Myveryspecialthanksgotoallthosescholarsandinstitutionswithwhom
Ihavebeenworkingintheseyears,fromtheISItotheIASS.Iamindebtedabout
this constant dialogue to my colleagues as well as students in many countries
and continents. Rick Littlefield has edited the majority of these chapters. Paul
Forsellhasbeenmyirreplaceablehelpnotonlyintheeditorialworkbutinall
myscholarlylife.IwarmlythankKimKeskiivarifortheproofreading.Idedicate
thisbooktomywife,Eila,whohasfollowedandsupporteditinallofitsphases.
My publisher Mouton de Gruyter I thank for a many years’ long, inspiring and
pleasantcooperation.
Helsinki,January2015 EeroTarasti
Contents
PrefacetoSeinundSchein|v
PartI Philosophy:VarietiesofBeing
1 Existentialsemioticstoday:Sein(Being)andSchein(Appearing)|3
1.1 Introduction|3
1.2 Areturntobasicideas|4
1.3 Modalities|4
1.4 Daseinandtranscendence|5
1.5 Turn-aroundofDasein|8
1.6 Values|10
1.7 Newtypesofsigns|14
1.8 Moreontranscendence|16
1.9 Mimesis|18
1.10 Thesubjectreconsidered:BEING|21
1.11 Questionsbyasubject:FromBEINGtoDOING|28
1.11.1 Consequencesofourvarietiesofsubjectivity|29
2 Ontheappearanceorthepresentstructureandexistentialdigressions
ofthesubject|39
2.1 Introduction|39
2.2 Moreonverticalappearance|42
2.3 Moreonhorizontalappearance|50
3 RepresentationinSemiotics|54
3.1 Therelationofrepresentationinsemiotics|54
3.2 Mappingrepresentation|55
3.3 Nöth’shandbook|57
3.4 Representationinphilosophy–JohnDeely|58
3.5 Peirce|59
3.6 Modeltheory|60
3.7 Fromcyberneticstoculturalsemiotics|61
3.8 Representationasfunction|63
3.9 ThearchaeologyofFoucault|64
3.10 Existentialsemioticinterpretation|66
viii | Contents
4 Theconceptofgenre:Ingeneralandinmusic|70
4.1 Asemioticapproachtogenreingeneral... |70
4.2 ...andinmusic|83
4.2.1 Beforegenres|83
4.2.2 Majorgenrecategories:Artmusicandpopularmusic|86
4.2.3 Normsandvarietiesofmusic|88
4.2.4 Genreinmusicalcommunication|89
4.2.5 Transgressinggenres|90
4.2.6 Crisesofgenres|91
4.2.7 Culturalreflections|92
4.2.8 Classics|93
4.2.9 Nationalversusuniversal|93
4.2.10 Socialclassificationandfunctions|95
4.2.11 Genreasclassification|97
4.2.12 Recenttheories|98
5 Theworldanditsinterpretation|100
5.1 Worldandworlds|100
5.1.1 Philosophers|101
5.1.2 Artists|106
5.1.3 Semioticians|109
5.2 Closingthoughts|111
6 SignsaroundUs–Umwelt,SemiosphereandSignscape|113
6.1 Introduction|113
6.2 Milieu–Taine|113
6.3 Surrounding/surrounded|115
6.4 Newmodelsofcommunication|117
6.5 UmweltandUexküll|118
6.6 Dasein... |120
6.7 ...andtranscendence|122
6.8 Semiosphere,LotmanandRuskin|124
6.9 Heidegger’sview|125
6.10 Subjectandenvironment|128
PartII Doing:SocietyandCulture
7 Semio-crisesintheeraofglobalisation:Towardsanewtheory
ofcollectiveandindividualsubjectivity|133
7.1 Introduction|133
Contents | ix
7.2 Thelessonofsemiocrises|134
7.3 Collectivesubjectivityoridentityasaworldview|137
7.4 Individualsubjectivityorthefightbetweentwomannersof‘being’
intheworld|141
8 Ideologiesmanifestingaxiologies|144
8.1 Introduction|144
9 Semioticsofresistance:Being,memory,history,andthe
counter-currentofsigns|152
9.1 Globalizationandtranscendence|152
9.2 Globalizationasthenewcivilization:Somesigns
ofthetime|154
9.3 Aestheticsofresistance|158
9.3.1 ForcesofresistanceI:Being|162
9.3.2 ForcesofresistanceII:Memory|167
9.3.3 ForcesofresistanceIII:History|177
9.4 Whatareweresisting?|180
10 Cultureandtranscendence|182
10.1 Thetheoryinbrief|184
10.2 Transculturality|185
10.3 CriticismofBritishculturalstudies|187
10.4 Languagegames|189
10.5 Articulation|190
10.6 Subjectpositions|192
10.7 WhatFoucaultsaid|193
10.8 Action|195
10.9 Cultivating|196
10.10 ContentandSpeculation|198
10.11 Theorganism|200
10.12 Generation|201
10.13 Nature|202
10.14 Rhizome|203
10.15 Zemic/Zetic|205
10.16 Transfer|206
10.17 Alien-psychic|208
10.18 Conclusion|209
x | Contents
PartIII LesserArts
11 Aproposalforasemiotictheoryofperformingarts|213
11.1 Generalobservations|213
11.1.1 Skill|214
11.1.2 Theory|214
11.1.3 Time|218
11.1.4 Emotions|221
11.1.5 Intentionalbody|221
11.1.6 Unpredictability|223
11.1.7 Schein|223
11.2 Anexistentialsemiotictheoryofperformance|227
11.3 Performanceinvariousarts|233
11.3.1 Performanceofthetext|233
11.3.2 Filmperformance-analysis|235
11.3.3 Varietiesofactor/actress,musician,dancer|237
12 Onculinemes,gastrophemes,andothersignsofcooking|249
12.1 Introduction|249
12.2 Twohistoricalperspectives|251
12.3 Semioticquestionsaboutfood|253
12.4 Cookingasagenerativecourse|256
12.5 Anapplication:cookinginParisaccordingtoVilleVallgren,
Finnishsculptorandgourmet|261
12.6 Conclusion|265
PartIV Heimat
13.A Metaphorsofnatureandorganicism|269
13.A.1 Introduction|269
13.A.2 Whatsemioticianssayaboutnature|269
13.A.3 AugusteComte|271
13.A.4 GermanthinkersfromKanttoSchiller|272
13.A.5 Différance|276
13.A.6 Inbiosemiotics|279
13.A.7 Semiogerms|282