Pericean Semiotics in China Today

It is true that Peircean semiotics meeting the world’s longest sustained civilization has been providing a great impetus to the advance of both. Traditional Chinese semiotic thinking could date back as early as the 7th century AD for Buddhist epistemology, or as early as the 3rd century BC for the Study of Naming in ancient Chinese philosophy and literature criticism. And Yi Jing (The Book of Changes, dated 3000-5000 BC) could be read as the world’s first system of semiotic comprehension of human experience. And Peircean scholars in China today agreed that it was not the coincidence that more “dialogues” could be found between ancient Chinese philosophers and Peirce, since there existed the ubiquity of triads, which are much similar with Peircean ones, in those traditional thoughts. For instance, the relationship between Min (names), Shi (reality) and Ju (reflection) in schools of naming, or Yan (words), Xiang(image) and Yi(meaning) in Yi Jing and etc. Hence, with such a long history of semiotic thinking and its potential dialogues with Peircean semiotics, it might not be a surprise if there appears a Chinese school of semioticians with their unique contributions that are understood and appreciated by the rest of the world. Peircean semiotics in China is correlated with the evolution of semiotics in Chinese academic history. Although some Chinese scholars began to introduce Peirce’s theory in the early 1960s, compared with Saussurean semiology his theory was still neglected throughout the 20th century. However, the blossoming of Chinese semiotics at the beginning of the 21st century has reversed this situation: Peircean semiotics is now one of the most important pillars of Chinese semiotics, and has been further developed by semiotic movements in China today. Chinese semiotic studies have experienced a paradigm shift, from pure theoretical study to a more general or practical field, cultural and social studies. Consequently, the theoretical paradigm must be updated to embrace all cultural or social phenomena. Peircean semiotics is ‘the doctrine of the essential nature and fundamental varieties of possible semiosis’ (CP 5.488, 1907), which features an interpretive/communicative approach; therefore, it is in accordance with the trend of nowadays’ Chinese semiotics. Accordingly, recent Chinese semioticians, from multiple perspectives, adopt diversified theoretical approaches to conduct their semiotic studies in sociocultural fields. While Peircean semiotics form the basis of such studies, ‘Peirce +’ – combining Peircean semiotics with other doctrines – became the new trend of semiotics in China today.
Land: 
China
Thema und Achsen: 
Die Durchgänge zwischen Semiologie und Semiotik
Die Geschichten der Semiotik: Gründungen und Kontinuitäten
Institution: 
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Sichuan University;Institute of Semiotics and Media Studies, Sichuan University
Mail: 
snnjkk@163.com

Estado del abstract

Estado del abstract: 
Accepted
Desarrollado por gcoop.