Language as an Eigenform and the Recursiom of Semiosis

The hypothesis of this paper is that language is one more Eigenform, the “external” description of which is impossible. It follows that the application of second-order cybernetics to Eigenform might be adequate. In this article, I would like to concentrate on one relatively small aspect of the idea of Eigenform suggested by Foerster, Kauffman and Spenser-Brawn. I will use Foerster`s recursive approach namely that neither observer nor the thing observed can precede each other, but instead mutually assume each other. In my research, language would stand in the place of the observer, and in the place of the thing – the world itself. To specify further, I focus on the problem of noting, and in particular, on how signs correspond to things. Therefore, I will try to show that the sign and the object (the signifier and the signified) do not precede one another and do not exist isolated from each other, but on the contrary, condition each other. Thus, language creates the world of objects, but in turn, it is created by the world. Thus it is a model of self-referentiality, which arranges the form of language as Eigenform as the idea of “mutual referentiality,” as we see it in the relation between language and the world.

1. Bart R. (1970) S/Z (Russian Translation: Moscow: Ad Marginem, 1994).

2. Borchikov S.A. (2014) On the Metaphysics of Form. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. 2014. No. 8, pp. 112–120 (in Russian).

3. Derrida J. (1967) L’écriture et la différence (Russian Translation: Saint Petersburg: Akademicheskij proekt, 2000).

4. Eco U. (1990) Unlimited Semiosis and Drift: Pragmaticism vs. «Pragmatism». In: The Limits of Interpretation (pp. 23–43). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

5. Flavell J.H. Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring: A New Area of Cognitive-Developmental Inquiry. American Psychologist. Vol. 34, no. 10. рр. 906–911.

6. Foerster H. (1960) On Self-organizing Systems and their Environments. In: Self-Organizing Systems (pp. 31–50). New York: Pergamon Press.

7. Füllsack M. (2014) The Circular Conditions of Second-order Science Sporadically Illustrated with Agent-based Experiments at the Roots of Observation. In: Constructivist Foundations. Vol. 10, no 1, pp. 46–54.

8. Kashkin V.B. (2013) Common Ideas on Language and Scientific Linguistic. Aktualniye problem filologii i pedagogicheskoy lingvistiki. Vol. 15, pp. 34–38 (in Russian).

9. Kauffman S. (2005) Eigenform. Kybernetes – The International Journal of Systems and Cybernetics. Vol. 34, no. 1/2, pp. 129–150.

10. Kravchenko A.V. (2008) The Lingual Semiosis and the Bounds of Human Cognition. In: Kognitivnye issledovaniya yazyka. Issue III (pp. 37–45). Moscow: Institut yazykoznaniya RAN; Tambov: Izdatel’skij dom TGU im. G.R. Derzhavina (in Russian).

11. Maturana H. Science and Daily Life: The Ontology of Scientific Explanations. In: Krohn W. et al. (Eds.) Self-Organization: Portrait of a Scientific Revolution (рр. 13–35). Dordrecht; Boston; London: Kluwer.

12. Moiseev V.I. (2014) The Calculation of Forms as a Project of Mathematical Philosophy. Credo New. Vol. 80, no. 4 (in Russian).

13. Morris C.W. (1964) Signification and Significance: A Study of the Relations of Signs and Values (pp. 401–414). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

14. Pattee H.H. (1995) Evolving Self-reference: Matter, Symbols, and Semantic Closure. Communication and Cognition–AI. Vol. 12, no. 1–2, pp. 9–27.

15. Podzolkova N.A. (2014) The Eigenform as the Nearest Collective Task of Integral Gnosiology. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. 2014. No. 10, pp. 126 –136 (in Russian).

16. Popkov V.V. (2015) The Spencer Brown`s Arithmetic of mind. Ontologia proektirovaniya. Vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 85–109 (in Russian).

17. Riegler A. & Weber S. (2013) Non-dualism: A New Understanding of Language. Constructivist Foundations. Vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 139–142. Available at: http://constructivist.info/8/2/139

18. Saussure F. de (1916) Cours de linguistique générale (Russian Translation: Moscow: Editorial URSS, 2004).

19. Sebeok, t.A. & Umiker-Sebeok J. (Eds.) (1992) Biosemiotics. The Semiotic Web 1991. Berlin; New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

20. Spencer-Brown G. (1969) Laws of form. London: Allen and Unwin.

21. Umerez J. (1995) Semantic Closure: A Guiding Notion to Ground Artificial Life. In: Advances in Artificial Life (pp. 77–94). Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.

22. Wittgenstein L. (1921) Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung (Russian Translation: Moscow: Nauka, 1958).