Dissertation Abstract

 

 

De Semiosis: De Semiotiek van C. S. Peirce

in Verband Gebracht Met Het Verschijnsel 'Film'

(Semiosis: C. S. Peirce's Semiotics Applied To Film)

by

Hans Van Driel

 

Degree:           DR.

Year:             1993

Pages:            00154

Institution:      Katholieke Universiteit Brabant (THE NETHERLANDS); 0687

 

Source:           DAI, 55, no. 02C, (1993): 0323

Standard No:      ISBN:             90-9006304-8

 

An alternative to the object-immanent approach of structurally oriented film semiotics is offered by Peircean semiotics. According to Peirce, meaning represents itself as a process whereby a sign is determined by an object and where the sign itself produces a signified sign (the interpretant). For Peircean semiotics, research into this process of meaning representation (semiosis) is itself the domain of research. In this study, I have given a description of the semiosis by applying two procedures derived from the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce. The first is Peirce's semiotic claim that all representation of meaning is by sign. This constitutes the frame of this study. The second procedure, which involves Peirce's theory of categories, functions as a leading principle.

          Semiosis in general is described as a quality which may be actualized. For this reason semiosis in general is called the semiosis 'in potentia'. I refer to an actualised semiosis as the semiosis 'in actu'. This is the object of research of several forms of applied semiotics. The description of this semiosis requires an adaptation of the description of the semiosis in potentia because of the peculiarity of the artefact (the sign) that influences the semiosis in actu. In this study the semiosis in actu is defined in terms of the process of film analysis.

          A very special semiosis in actu concerns the process of knowledge representation aimed at evaluating the reliability of meaning as represented by a concluded semiosis in actu. This is the object of research of the applied semiotics of science. It is called semiosis 'in lege'. The description of this semiosis requires an adaptation of the description of the semiosis in potentia and the semiosis in actu. The adaptation concerns the scientific method: how should one evaluate the meaning that is represented by a concluded semiosis?

          Semiosis in lege in general is described as a quality which could be actualized by an applied semiosis in lege. I have given an example of this by evaluating the reliability of meaning as represented by a concluded semiosis in actu, namely a classical publication on film analysis.

 

SUBJECT(S)

Language:         Dutch

Descriptor:       CINEMA

Accession No:     AAGC347237

Provider:        OCLC

Database:         Dissertations