Third Biosemiotic Glossary Project survey: "Intentionality"

The third survey in the Biosemiotic Glossary Project is now open. Don Favareau is the assigned author of the third review article, to be published in Biosemiotics, and the term surveyed is "intentionality".

Responses are given online, in two parts, here and here - by early July.

"The biosemiotic glossary project: Agent, agency" accepted for publication

My review article "The biosemiotic glossary project: Agent, agency" has some days ago been accepted for publication in Biosemiotics. It will appear in print in Biosemiotics 8(1), due in April.

First biosemiotic glossary review article finished; revised; sent for feedback; abstract

On May 8th I finished the review article "The biosemiotic glossary project: Agent, agency", which is the first article in the biosemiotic glossary project of the journal Biosemiotics. Following feedback from my fellow editors Alexei Sharov and Timo Maran I then revised it by June 2nd. Yesterday the article draft was distributed to members of the editorial and advisory board of Biosemiotics and to those cited (biosemioticians) for feedback. In its current version the article comes with a 6-page Appendix (Electronic Supplementary Material).

The article will appear in Biosemiotics issue 3 2014 (December).

Abstract The current article is the first in a series of review articles addressing biosemiotic terminology, and is meant to establish the format of the series. In contrast to the five existing biosemiotic glossaries compiled by individual authors (one or a few), this project is inclusive and designed to integrate views of a representative group of members within the biosemiotic community based on a standard survey and related publications. The methodology section describes the format of the survey conducted in November–December 2013 in preparation of the current review and targeted on the two terms ‘agent’ and ‘agency’. Next, I summarize denotation, synonyms and antonyms, with special emphasis on the denotation of these terms in current biosemiotic usage. On this point the survey findings include ratings of nine citations defining or making use of the two terms. I provide a summary of respondents’ own definitions of the terms and suggested usage. Further sections address etymology, connotations, and related terms in English and other languages. A section on the notions’ mainstream meaning vs. their meaning in biosemiotics is then followed by attempt at synthesis and conclusions.

While some other fields, such as medical and veterinary science, has a pragmatic interest in the notion of agency qua causal, biosemiotics has an ontological interest in the occurrence of agency in the living realm at large. Although there is currently no consensus in the biosemiotic community on what constitutes a semiotic agent, i.e. an agent in the context of semiosis (the action of signs), most respondents agree that core attributes of an agent include goal-directedness, self-governed activity, processing of semiosis and choice of action, with these features being vital for the functioning of the living system in question. I agree that these four features are constitutive of biosemiotic agents, and further suggest to define ‘semiotic agency’ as the capacity a living system has of affecting the course of events in which it is involved by relating to sign relationships. Finally, I stipulate that biosemiotic agents fall within three major categories, namely 1) sub-organismic biosemiotic agents, 2) organismic biosemiotic agents and 3) super-organismic biosemiotic agents.

See also:

The biosemiotic glossary project announced and started - first terms to be reviewed 'agent', 'agency'

Potential terms for review - the biosemiotic glossary project

In the context of the ongoing survey in the biosemiotic community partaking in the biosemiotic glossary project (see below), I thought I could share the terms we in the editorial team have listed as potential terms for review. In alphabetical order, these are:

causation + semiotic causation + downward causation

code

cognition

communication

evolution

function

information

interpretation

intentionality + goal

learning

life

mind + perception

organism

niche + semiotic niche

ritualization

semiotic emergence

semiotic freedom

semiotic threshold

sign + semiosis + biosemiosis

signal

species + species-specific

subject + subjectivity

Umwelt (+ Innenwelt?)

As part of the survey, which is conducted until December 15th 2013, respondents are invited to suggest terms to review.

See also:
The biosemiotic glossary project announced and started - first terms to be reviewed 'agent', 'agency

ISCB launches annual conference series - 2017 conference to be organised in Norway by me

The International Socity for Code Biology (ISCB), where I am a member of the Governing Board, is making plans for an annual conference series which will start in 2014. As can be seen from the partial overview below, I have been asked, and agreed, to organise the 4th conference in Norway, in 2017.

• 1st International Conference in Code Biology (2014): Paris, France - organised by Chris Ottolenghi
• 3rd International Conference in Code Biology (2016): Urbino, Italy - organised by Almo Farina
• 4th International Conference in Code Biology (2017): Stavanger*, Norway - organised by Morten Tønnessen
• 5th International Conference in Code Biology (2018): Braga, Portugal - organised by João Carlos Major
• 7th International Conference in Code Biology (2020): Stellenbosch, South Africa - organised by Jannie Hofmeyr

* depending on where I'll be working

I will soon post on Why I joined the ISCB, a post which will make clear how I am relating to the current split in the biosemiotic community. For now, let it suffice to say that I will only regard the enterprise of the International Conferences in Code Biology as truly successful if they result in greater and not less interest in biosemiotics as a field. Consequently, a measure of their value will be whether they bring more people into biosemiotics, or simply contribute to fragmentation of the biosemiotic community. A further criterion for success is naturally how the ISCB conference series will affect the overall development of the discipline of biosemiotics in qualitative terms. 

At any rate, from 2014 onwards there will be two annual conference series in biosemiotics. The already established conference series is the International Gatherings in Biosemiotics (organised by the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies, ISBS), the 13th of which is to be held in Castiglioncello, Italy this June.