The Quest for Meaning

A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice, Second Edition

Marcel Danesi (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

216 Seiten

2020 | 2nd edition
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-2351-0 (ISBN)

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The go-to introductory guide to semiotic theory and practice, this second edition features a new chapter on semiotics in the digital age and sheds light on how we grasp for meaning in the modern world.

Dating back to antiquity, semiotics is both a "technique" and a "science" that aims to understand the nature of meaning. An academic discipline in its own right, semiotics uses signs, such as words and symbols, to think, communicate, reflect, transmit, and preserve knowledge.

Since the initial publication of The Quest for Meaning in 2007, the world has changed dramatically with the advent of online culture, new technologies, and new ways of making signs and symbols. Updated to reflect these many changes, the second edition includes a comprehensive chapter on the use of semiotics in the Internet age. Written in a student-friendly style, featuring examples from everyday life, the book explains what semiotics is all about and why it is so important for gaining insights into our elusive and mysterious human nature.

Marcel Danesi is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Preface

1. What Is Semiotics?

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Historical Sketch
1.3 The Science of Meaning
1.4 Two Fundamental Models of the Sign
1.5 The Current Practice of Semiotics
1.6 Semiotics in the Global Village
1.7 Further Reading

2. Signs

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Defining the Sign
2.3 Symptoms and Signals
2.4 Icons
2.5 Indexes
2.6 Symbols
2.7 Names
2.8 Body, Mind, and Culture
2.9 Further Reading

3. Structure

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Structure
3.3 Associative Structure
3.4 Structural Economy
3.5 Post-Structuralism
3.6 Modeling
3.7 Further Reading

4. Codes

4.1 Introduction
4.2 What Is a Code?
4.3 Opposition and Markedness
4.4 Types of Codes
4.5 Codes and Perception
4.6 Further Reading

5. Texts

5.1 Introduction
5.2 What Is a Text?
5.3 Narrative Texts
5.4 Visual Texts
5.5 Digital Texts
5.7 Texts, Mind, and Culture
5.8 Further Reading

6. Representation

6.1 Introduction
6.2 What Is Representation?
6.3 Representation and Myth
6.4 Online Knowledge Representation
6.5 Representation and Reality
6.5 Further Reading

7. Semiotics in the Internet Era

7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Simulacrum
7.3 Memes
7.4 Emojis
7.5 The Global Brain
7.6 Posthumanism
7.7 Further Reading

8. Applications

8.1 Introduction
8.2 Clothing
8.3 Food
8.4 Visual Rhetoric
8.5 The Quest for Meaning
8.6 Further Reading

Glossary of Technical Terms
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2021
Zusatzinfo	16 figures
Verlagsort	Toronto
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	300 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-4875-2351-3 / 1487523513
ISBN-13	978-1-4875-2351-0 / 9781487523510
Zustand	Neuware