Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The term “sign” is used in semiotics and hermeneutics as an umbrella (portmanteau) word covering all forms of gestures, ciphers, tokens, marks, indices, and symbols that convey human meaning. There have been many philosophical views expressed in the study of human meaning construction. Some thinkers trace the beginning of human cognition by the earliest Homo sapiens to the use of signs. The earliest religious thinkers emphasized some supernatural indicators of the true nature of reality; they understood “signs” in nature as messages. This led to necromancy and other forms of divination. The Chinese Yi Ching was initially based on the reading of tortoise shells. Victory in battle was often seen as a sign of the whim of the gods or of God's pleasure in ancient times. That which was not understood directly had to be fathomed on the basis of conjecture. Greek physicians utilized somatic signs to diagnose disease. They called this process semeiosis. The idea of semiotic signs has gradually been extended to cover more and more features of reality. At the same time, secularization since the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment has made the notion that signs come from supernatural forces less acceptable. Classicist and theologian Friederich Schleiermacher utilized hermeneutics to translate and interpret both Plato and the Bible. He discovered that the way he carried out exegesis ... log in or subscribe to read full text