CYBERNETICS & HUMAN KNOWING

Contents:

Søren Brier: Foreword Full Text

Claus Emmeche: Defining life as a semiotic phenomenon Abstract

David J. Depew & Bruce H. Weber: What Does Natural Selection Have to Be like Abstract

Jesper Hoffmeyer: Surfaces Inside Surfaces Abstract

Robert Vallée: Cognition et Système, Essai d'Épistémo-praxéologie Abstract

Robert Vallée: An Introduction to "Epistemo-praxiology" Abstract

Columns

Ranulph Glanville: A (Cybernetic) Musing: Varieties of Variety? Full Text

Louis H. Kauffman: Virtual Logic - The Calculus of Indications Full Text

Reviews

Maj-Britt Rosenkilde, Anja Abel Sørensen, Christine Nordentoft and Søren Brier: Review of International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics Full Text

Axel Randrup: Whispering Pond Full Text

Mariaelena Bartesaghi: "The Therapy of Dialogical Possibility" Full Text

Defining life as a semiotic phenomenon

Abstract:

The paper investigates a semiotic conception of life. As a notion or general idea of life it is seen as a member of a set of definitions bordering science proper and philosophy of nature, here called ontodefinitions. The received view of definitions in science (according to which definitions of life are virtually non-existent or meaningless to pursue) is criticised, and the semiotic notion of life is related to the emergent character of a simple living system. Defining life as biosemiotic processes seems to imply the emergence of functionality as a kind of 'biological meaning' in the physical world. The relevance of definitions is context-dependent, and one such context is Artificial Life (AL) research. A 'strong version' of Artificial Life claims it possible to synthesize and thus realize life computationally or by other means. If life should be defined in terms of semiotic processes intrinsic to nature, then semiosis must be required to take place in any system that realizes life.