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Article 1246 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: smoliar@hilbert.iss.nus.sg (stephen smoliar)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Is semiotics an "informal logic"?
Message-ID: <1991Nov8.225437.8880@nuscc.nus.sg>
Date: 8 Nov 91 22:54:37 GMT
References: <L9cwaB1w164w@depsych.Gwinnett.COM> <91310.142252MORIARTY@NDSUVM1.BITNET> <rreiner.689479216@yorku.ca>
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In article <rreiner.689479216@yorku.ca> rreiner@nexus.yorku.ca (Richard Reiner)
writes:
>
>I'll post more evidence of the badness of (Eco 1979) if there is
>demand, but I'd rather not clutter up the net with more commentary on
>such a substandard piece of work.
>
I agree that such clutter should be avoided;  but it may be worth discussing
the extent to which the fault is with Eco or with semiotics, itself.  (Of
course it semiotics constitutes a flawed discipline, one could certainly
criticize Eco for wasting his time on it;  but then his time is his own
to do with as he sees fit.)  My exposure began with Charles Morris'
"Foundations of the Theory of Signs," a monograph which I had not read
until I already had quite a bit of LISP programming under my belt.  My
impression was of a man who was trying to wrestle with issues of symbol
manipulation without ever having had the benefit of a technology which
would allow him to explore how symbols could be manipulated!  I do not
think matters have changed very much since Morris wrote his essay, and
I remain amazed that the literature in semiotics is still growing.  I
propose the following blunt assessment of the current state of the art:
There are two classes of philosophers pursuing the study of symbols.  Those
who have acquired the skills necessary to use the computer as a symbol
manipulating tool are doing cognitive science.  Those who have not are
doing semiotics.
-- 
Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511
Internet:  smoliar@iss.nus.sg


