ECO ON PEIRCE **Part 2***27 Mar 2014 5:00 am OPEN TO REVISION & READ ORIGINAL [entries are compressed] Pp. 1-2: Eco’s Purpose in Dealing with Peirce: “At the second congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (Vienna 1979)” he presented “Proposals for a History of Semiotics” recommending “historical studies of the theories of the sign over the centuries first because it is a necessary contribution to the history of philosophy, and secondly that to do semiotics today one needed to know how it was done yesterday” even when “disguised as something else”. ¶ “I suggested three lines of research. The first had narrower ambitions, since it was confined to those authors who had spoken explicitly about the relation of signification, starting with the CRATYLUS and Aristotle, through Augustine and Peirce…”¶ “My second line was a close rereading of the whole history of philosophy to find IMPLICIT semiotic theories even where not explicitly developed, the chief example being Kant.”¶ “Finally, my third suggestion was to cover all forms of literature in which symbolic and hermeneutical strategies were developed such as the Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite. I also cited manuals of divination, bestiaries, discussions of poetics, including writers and artists who had reflected on communication.”¶ “Contributions to an historical reconstruction of theories of the sign and semiosis have been so many that we could plan a definitive history of semiotic thought.”¶ “Such is the origin and nature of the essays gathered in the present volume.”¶ “I trust readers whose interests are not specifically semiotic professionally will read this as contributions to a history of the various philosophies of language or languages.”
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