“Systemic Semiotics” – webinar by Professor Piotr Sadowski (Dublin)

Abstract

Systemic semiotics applies the theory of autonomous systems to the study of communication and meaning.  Autonomous systems, such as living organisms, have the capacity to maintain homeostasis—a state of internal functional equilibrium in respect of the information and energy the systems exchange with the environment.  A disturbance of a system’s functional equilibrium creates a need, which motivates a system to communicate with its environment to obtain the necessary information and energy in order to restore the homeostatic balance.  The needs experienced by empirical systems include procreative, nutritional, protective, social, exploratory, aesthetic, and teleological (the list appears to be exhaustive).  Communication in turn consists in registering sensory stimuli (information) and interpreting them with internal parainformation (a direct, or literal level of meaning), or additionally with metainformation (an indirect, or figurative level of meaning).  Given the spatio-temporal relations between interacting systems in the empirical world, systems can communicate either directly, in contiguous communication, or indirectly, as in indexical, iconic, or symbolic communication (again, the number and types of communication appear to be exhaustive).  The internal consistency and broad application of systemic semiotics have the potential of offering a holistic, consilient methodology that integrates biological sciences and cultural studies.  

Dr Piotr Sadowski (MLitt., PhD. in English, University of Warsaw) teaches in the Department of Film and Creative Media in Dublin Business School. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin. Sadowski is the author of eight academic books on early cinema, semiotics, communication theory, and medieval and Renaissance literature. For further details of publications
please see www.piotr-sadowski.com Contact: piotr.sadowski@dbs.ie

PANEL:

Robert Finkelstein (University of Maryland and Robotic Technology Inc.)

Jean-Guy Meunier (Universite du Quebec a Montreal)

Remo Gramigna (University of Torino)

Roman Esqueda (University of Mexico)

Pat Brereton (Dublin City University)

Thiago Muller (Universidade Catolica Dom Bosco, Campo Grande, Brazil)

MODERATOR:

Monica Rector

Monica Rector

Emeritus professor from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She was born in São Paulo, Brazil. Her graduate studies were done in Madrid. She has a Ph.D. from the University of São Paulo, where she worked for a couple of years, before moving to Rio de Janeiro. She has a second Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where she taught, as well as at the Universidade Federal Fluminense. She moved to the United States in 1987, working at UNC until her retirement in 2016 as a full professor. Her interests are Semiotics, Portuguese and Brazilian Literature, Film and Culture with a focus on Women writers. Her bibliography comprises thirty-one books authored, co-authored and edited, besides 190 articles published in national and international journals.