Continuity, Naturalism, and Contingency: A Theology of Evolution Drawing on the Semiotics of C. S. Peirce and Trinitarian Thought

The starting point for this article is the question of the relationship between Darwinism and Christian theology. I suggest that evolutionary theory presents three broad issues of relevance to theology: the phenomena of continuity, naturalism, and contingency. In order to formulate a theological response to these issues I draw on the semiotics (theory of signs) and cosmology of the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. Peirce developed a triadic theory of signs, underpinned by a threefold system of metaphysical categories. I propose a semiotic model of the Trinity based on Peirce's semiotics and categories. According to this model the sign‐processes (such as the genetic “code”) that are fundamental to life may be understood as vestiges of the Trinity in creation. I use the semiotic model to develop a theology of nature that addresses the issues raised by evolutionary theory. The semiotic model amounts to a proposal for a new metaphysical framework within which to understand the relationship between God and creation and between theology and science.     

Individual and neo‐tribal consumption: Tales from the Simpsons of Springfield

The change from modernity to postmodernity has seen a dramatic increase in the use of goods and consumption both to gain and display meaning. Similarly, through the change towards the postmodern consumers are forever trying to balance the differentiating and integrating aspects of their behaviour in order to achieve a relationship with the society within which they exist. It is the authors' theory that much of this expression of differentiation and integration is achieved through consumption. Briefly, this paper puts forward a model for the analysis of consumption as an expression of the self (individualistic consumption) and as a system of meaning enabling linkage to social tribes (tribalistic consumption). Furthermore, the authors apply this framework in a semiotic analysis of The Simpsons. By examining the consumption and meaning of goods in a popular television show, an indirect reflection of modern society and the centrality of goods to meaning are highlighted. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hannah Arendt & Jean Baudrillard: Pedagogy in the Consumer Society

This paper considers the place of education within our “consumers’ society”, beginning with Hannah Arendt’s account of the rise of consumerism to a position of political dominance and the resulting eclipse of public life. Connections are then made between Arendt’s account of this rise and Jean Baudrillard’s account of the postmodern proliferation of signs and the transformation of the sign into a commodity. This radical “semiurgy” accelerates into a self-referential series of signs which entails the loss of reality – it contributes to the disappearance of the human subjectivity behind the creation of images. I argue that Baudrillard does not respond adequately to the dynamic that he describes so well. By contrast, Arendt’s concept of natality, I suggest, prepares the ground for a response to the forces of commodification that colonize the educational environment and threaten its critical possibilities. As youth and schools receive more and more attention from advertisers, students are sold by educational institutions to commercial interests who seek unfettered access to this “captive audience”. Yet education is profoundly compromised when youths are viewed as consumers and not as a social investment, when education is viewed merely as an opportunity to secure a new market.     

CREATIVE MUTUAL INTERACTION IN ACTION

In this article, I describe a multidisciplinary project at the interface of philosophy, science, and theology. The project is the product of an ongoing collaboration between the author and Christopher Southgate, to whom this special issue of Zygon is dedicated. At the philosophical core of the project is a development of C. S. Peirce's semiotics (theory of signs). The scientific branch of the project involves the application of semiotic theory to the problem of the origin of life, and to questions about human evolution and human distinctiveness. The theological branch of the project involves the articulation of a semiotic approach to the Christian concepts of Incarnation and Trinity, and to the ideas of vestiges of the Trinity in creation and of participation in God's life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the project in terms of Robert John Russell's model of ‘creative mutual interaction’ between science and theology.     

When Height Carries Weight: Communicating Hidden Object Properties for Joint Action

In the absence of pre‐established communicative conventions, people create novel communication systems to successfully coordinate their actions toward a joint goal. In this study, we address two types of such novel communication systems: sensorimotor communication, where the kinematics of instrumental actions are systematically modulated, versus symbolic communication. We ask which of the two systems co‐actors preferentially create when aiming to communicate about hidden object properties such as weight. The results of three experiments consistently show that actors who knew the weight of an object transmitted this weight information to their uninformed co‐actors by systematically modulating their instrumental actions, grasping objects of particular weights at particular heights. This preference for sensorimotor communication was reduced in a fourth experiment where co‐actors could communicate with weight‐related symbols. Our findings demonstrate that the use of sensorimotor communication extends beyond the communication of spatial locations to non‐spatial, hidden object properties.     

Flooded by a wall of water: parent–child reminiscing about local environment and unwanted changes

This article examines the long-lasting effects of an unwanted place change (i.e., the construction of a dam) on the social representations (SRs) of places and of place-community relationship. The study integrates an SRs approach, generative semiotics, and methods borrowed from research on the social making of autobiographical memory. The aim is to explore whether and how intergenerational family narratives contribute to the transmission of SRs. Parent-child pairs were asked to share episodes linked to the dam. Video-recordings were submitted to thematic content analysis and semiotic analysis. Results show that parents and children associate the dam with a radical transformation: it acts as a performer of separation between the community and its territory. The analysis of interactions gives further insights into the how family and community memories are connected. This first attempt confirms the potentialities of the integrated approach to understanding the processes of intergenerational transmission of social representations, and paves the way to further refinements.     

On love, hate and knowledge

In this short theoretical paper, I discuss Bion's three relations of love, hate, and knowledge, using Peirce's semiotic theory of relations and Bakhtin's semiotic/philosophical writings. Reading Bion through the prism of these resources allows us to better understand the meaning and ontogenesis of the basic relations and to examine their clinical explanatory value.     

周易阴阳符号与二进制算术符号比较

周易符号和二进制算术符号是两种截然不同的文化代码及其规则．它们分别代表了东西方文化最深层的文化构造原则和最高的集体智能。本文试运用符号学的观点．通过对这两种符号的比较。概括出有标记和无标记、约定性和选择性两种文化代码规则范畴,并进一步揭示出中西文化的差异。     

《周易四笺》的符号学解读

本文的目的在于从符号学的角度解读茶山丁若镛的《周易四笺》。西方的符号学与《周易》是目的不同的体系。不过由于《周易》是由六十四卦和三百八十四爻的符号构成,因此符号学读法与《周易》文本的本质性格是完全吻合的。《周易》符号论的特征在于运用泛符号主义的观点把宇宙的森罗万象看成是符号界。在《周易》里,有记录特定历史事件的卦爻辞,由此我们可以找到复原诞生符号的历史文化空间的决定性线索。笔者将通过探讨茶山对这些卦爻辞的解释,重温茶山的解释所具有的可行性。     

The career construction interview and literary analysis

The aim of this study was to examine what changes occurred in a career construction interview (CCI), what elements contributed to these changes and how reflexivity was fostered. Two clients and two counselors participated in interpersonal process recall (IPR) interviews (Larsen, Flesaker, & Stege, 2008) to review CCI interviews they had previously participated in. The CCI was reported based on the construction and reconstruction that took place during the interview. The IPR interviews were analyzed qualitatively by means of the grounded theory method. Then the two CCI's were submitted to literary analysis based on Greimas's narrative semiotics (Vilhjálmsdóttir & Tulinius, 2009) in order to determine whether and in what way the counselor missed something during the interview. The article concludes that the CCI is very effective but could be made even more so if the counselors received more training in literary analysis, more specifically narrative semiotics.