•  68
    Any great new theoretical framework has an epistemological and an ontological aspect to its philosophy as well as an axiological one, and one needs to understand all three aspects in order to grasp the deep aspiration and idea of the theoretical framework. Presently, there is a widespread effort to understand C. S. Peirce's (1837–1914) pragmaticistic semeiotics, and to develop it by integrating the results of modern science and evolutionary thinking; first, producing a biosemiotics and, second, …Read more
  •  67
    (1997). What is a possible ontological and epistemological framework for a true universal ‘information science'?: The suggestion of a cybersemiotics. World Futures: Vol. 49, The Quest for a Unified Theory of Information, pp. 287-308
  •  54
    The present article discusses various suggestions for a philosophical framework for a transdisciplinary information science or a semiotic doctrine. These are: the mechanical materialistic, the pan-informational, the Luhmanian second order cybernetic approach, Peircian biosemiotics and finally the pan-semiotic approach. The limitations of each are analyzed. The conclusion is that we will not have to choose between either a cybernetic-informational or a semiotic approach. A combination of a Peirci…Read more
  •  44
    Ecosemiotics and the sustainability transition
    Sign Systems Studies 29 (1): 219-234. 2001.
    The emerging epistemic community of ecosemioticians and the multidisciplinary field of inquiry known as ecosemiotics offer a radical and relevant approach to so-called global environmental crisis. There are no environmental fixes within the dominant code, since that code overdetermines the future, thereby perpetuating ecologically untenable cultural forms. The possibility of a sustainability transition (the attempt to overcome destitution and avoid ecocatastrophe) becomes real when mediated by a…Read more
  •  44
    This paper presents a critical analysis of code-semiotics, which we see as the latest attempt to create paradigmatic foundation for solving the question of the emergence of life and consciousness. We view code semiotics as a an attempt to revise the empirical scientific Darwinian paradigm, and to go beyond the complex systems, emergence, self-organization, and informational paradigms, and also the selfish gene theory of Dawkins and the Peircean pragmaticist semiotic theory built on the simultane…Read more
  •  42
    Phenomenological Computation?
    Constructivist Foundations 9 (2): 234-235. 2014.
    Open peer commentary on the article “Info-computational Constructivism and Cognition” by Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic. Upshot: The main problems with info-computationalism are: (1) Its basic concept of natural computing has neither been defined theoretically or implemented practically. (2. It cannot encompass human concepts of subjective experience and intersubjective meaningful communication, which prevents it from being genuinely transdisciplinary. (3) Philosophically, it does not sufficiently accep…Read more
  •  38
    Cybersemiotic Pragmaticism and Constructivism
    Constructivist Foundations 5 (1). 2009.
    Context: Radical constructivism claims that we have no final truth criteria for establishing one ontology over another. This leaves us with the question of how we can come to know anything in a viable manner. According to von Glasersfeld, radical constructivism is a theory of knowledge rather than a philosophy of the world in itself because we do not have access to a human-independent world. He considers knowledge as the ordering of experience to cope with situations in a satisfactory way. Probl…Read more
  •  31
    As an answer to the humanistic, socially oriented critique of the information-processing paradigms used as a conceptual frame for library information science, this article formulates a broader and less objective concept of communication than that of the information-processing paradigm. Knowledge can be seen as the mental phenomenon that documents (combining signs into text, depending on the state of knowledge of the recipient) can cause through interpretation. The examination of these “correct c…Read more
  •  25
    Intrasemiotics and cybersemiotics
    Sign Systems Studies 30 (1): 113-127. 2002.
    The concept of intrasemiotics designates the semiosis of the interpenetration between the biological and psychological autopoietic systems as Luhmann defines them in his theory. Combining a Peircian concept of semiosis with Luhmann’s theory in the framework of biosemiotics makes it possible for us to view the interplay of mind and body as a sign play. The recently suggested term ‘sign play’ pertains to ecosemiotics processes between animals of the same species stretching Wittgenstein’s language …Read more
  •  20
    A Peircean Panentheist Scientific Mysticism
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 27 (1): 20-45. 2008.
    Peirce’s philosophy can be interpreted as an integration of mysticism and science. In Peirce’s philosophy mind is feeling on the inside and on the outside, spontaneity, chance and chaos with a tendency to take habits. Peirce’s philosophy has an emptiness beyond the three worlds of reality , which is the source from where the categories spring. He emphasizes that God cannot be conscious in the way humans are, because there is no content in his “mind.” Since there is a transcendental 3 nothingness…Read more
  •  16
    This article praises the development of second order cybernetics by von Foerster, Maturana, and Varela as an important step in deepening our understanding of the bio-psychological foundation of the dynamics of information, cognition, and communication. Luhmann's development of the theory into the realm of social communication is seen as a necessary and important move. The triple autopoietic differentiation between biological, psychological, and social-communicative autopoiesis and the introducti…Read more
  •  16
    Problems concerning the process of subject analysis and the practice of indexing
    with Torkild Leo Thellefsen and Martin Leo Thellefsen
    Semiotica 2003 (144): 177-218. 2003.
  •  13
    Intrasemiootika ja kübersemiootika. Kokkuvõte
    Sign Systems Studies 30 (1): 128-128. 2002.
  •  12
    Introduction to Cybersemiotics: A Transdisciplinary Perspective (edited book)
    with Carlos Vidales
    Springer Verlag. 2021.
    This book traces the origins and evolution of cybersemiotics, beginning with the integration of semiotics into the theoretical framework of cybernetics and information theory. The book opens with chapters that situate the roots of cybersemiotics in Peircean semiotics, describe the advent of the Information Age and cybernetics, and lay out the proposition that notions of system, communication, self-reference, information, meaning, form, autopoiesis, and self-control are of equal topical interest …Read more
  •  11
    Luhmann Applied (edited book)
    with Dirk Baecker and Ole Thyssen
    Imprint Academic. 2008.
    This book brings together international experts on the application of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of society as autopoietic communication. Luhmann’s sociological systems theory is counter-intuitive and in its detached coolness difficult for many to understand and accept. Naturally they ask: is it really worth the trouble to learn? This book demonstrates what this combination of systems theory, Batesonian information theory, von Foerster’s second-order cybernetics, Maturana and Varela’s autopoiesis a…Read more
  •  7
    This special double issue of _Cybernetics and Human Knowing_ is comprised of a collection of papers devoted to the cybernetics and mathematics of Charles Sanders Peirce with a special focus on its synergies with George Spencer-Brown's thinking. Peirce was a truly original American philosopher and logician working in the late 1800s and early 1900s; Spencer-Brown is an English polymath, best known as the author of _Laws of Form_. The contributions reflect the extraordinary richness of Peirce's wor…Read more
  •  6
    Ökosemiootika ja kübersemiootika. Kokkuvõte
    Sign Systems Studies 29 (1): 120-120. 2001.
  •  6
    A transdisciplinary theory of cognition and communication based on the process self-organizing and autopoietic system theory of Niklas Luhmann integrated with a triadic semiotic paradigm of experience and interpretation with phenomenological and hermeneutical aspects of C.S. Peirce, goes beyond info-computationalism in its integrating of phenomenological and hermeneutical aspects of Peircean semiotic logic with a cybernetic and autopoietic systemic emergentist process view. This makes the emerge…Read more
  •  5
    Cybersemiotics and Umweltlehre
    Semiotica 2001 (134). 2001.
  •  3
    Transdisciplinary Cybernetics and Cybersemiotics (edited book)
    with Phillip Guddemi, Pille Bunnell, and Jeanette Bopry
    Imprint Academic. 2009.
    The guiding idea behind this collection of papers is a presentation of the transdisciplinary scope of the new semiotics offering a deeper and broader framework than the structuralist semiology that has been the foundation of most European semiotic analyses of culture, texts and languages.
  •  3
    Thomas Sebeok and the Biosemiotic Legacy (edited book)
    Imprint Academic. 2004.
    Dedicated to the life and work of Thomas Sebeok, this is an issue of the journal "Cybernetics and Human Knowing".
  •  2
    Heinz von Foerster 1911-2002 (edited book)
    with Ranulph Glanville
    Imprint Academic. 2004.
    Dedicated to the life and work of Heinz Von Foerster, this is a double issue of the journal "Cybernetics and Human Knowing".