The concept of semiosphere coined by Lotman in analogy of Vernadsky’s biosphere can be considered as a starting point for the new model in the semiotics of culture that enables us to conceptualise the human culture in its great diversity, as well as a certain single system as a part of this diversity. Present article will clarify some points of dissonance between Lotman and Vernadsky, as well as consider the dual influence of Vernadsky and Prigogine on the workings of the (...) semiosphere in relation to the cultural dynamics. As a conclusion, the article entertains the idea that if we take the comparison with Vernadsky a bit further, the concept of semiosphere could be reinvented rather as a main transformative force of the (human) environment. (shrink)

The concept of semiosphere coined by Lotman in analogy of Vernadsky’s biosphere can be considered as a starting point for the new model in the semiotics of culture that enables us to conceptualise the human culture in its great diversity, as well as a certain single system as a part of this diversity. Present article will clarify some points of dissonance between Lotman and Vernadsky, as well as consider the dual influence of Vernadsky and Prigogine on the workings of the (...) semiosphere in relation to the cultural dynamics. As a conclusion, the article entertains the idea that if we take the comparison with Vernadsky a bit further, the concept of semiosphere could be reinvented rather as a main transformative force of the (human) environment. (shrink)

The paper analyzes the development of the Sokol movement in Galicia in the late 19th century - the first third of the 20th century in the context of social and cultural processes. It is proved by actual examples that Sokol societies played an important part in the moulding process of national consciousness and consolidation of the Ukrainians over the period under research against the background of anti-Ukrainian policy of Austria-Hungary and the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It is stated that by combining (...) the sports and national components in their activities, Sokol clubs became one of the centers round which Ukrainian youth were united. It is indicated that under the conditions of the lack of statehood Sokol organizations of Galicia, together with other national-cultural and sports societies, de facto performed a state function of physical training of the Ukrainians of the region. By uniting different social groups of the population through physical culture, the Sokols fostered patriotism, social activity and discipline, civic responsibility and morality, which doubtlessly promoted the rise of the national-cultural level of the Ukrainians, invigoration of the struggle for their rights in the context of the Austrian-Hungarian and Polish autocratic regime. It is proved that after the resolution of the Council of Ambassadors of the Entente states on the transfer of Eastern Galicia to Poland, the Polish authorities and community tried to hinder the dissemination of Ukrainian Sokol ideas in the region, which manifested itself in prohibition of registration of Sokol clubs and their statutes etc. It is stated that the attitude of the Polish authorities to the Sokols became most apparent when the Ukrainian community celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and when the Polish government conducted a 'pacification' campaign in Galicia. In the meantime a great number of Sokol societies were liquidated. The paper places a high emphasis on Sokol ideology. It is mentioned that ideologists of the Ukrainian Sokol movement, having dismissed the idea of Pan-Slavism, adapted the activities of Sokil-Batko to the needs of the national liberation movement of the Ukrainians within the framework of the political system of Austria-Hungary and the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It is pointed out that the Sokols, as opposed to other national-cultural organizations, declared nonpartisanship and promoted the inter-confessional consent in Galicia. At the same time, the Sokols popularized sport in every way since they believed that "the spirit of man is hardened together with the physical strength, national consciousness growing". (shrink)

In this study we replicated the explanatory effect of a label which had been found by Giffin et al.. In their experiments, they used vignettes describing an odd behavior of a person based on culturally specific disorders that were unfamiliar to respondents. It turned out that explanations which explain an odd behavior through a person’s tendency to behave that way seemed more persuasive if the disorder was given a label that was used in the explanation. We replicated these results in (...) Experiment 1, and in a follow-up Experiment 2 we examined the familiarity with category information and the evaluation of that category over time. We realized that the label effect persists even when people make judgments based on their recollections about a category. Furthermore, according to a content analysis of the recollections, participants in the label condition remembered more information from the vignettes but tended to forget an artificial label; however, they used other words from the disorder domain instead. This allowed us to suggest a new interpretation of this effect: we suppose that in the Giffin et al. experiments the label did not bring any new features to a category itself, but pointed to a relevant domain instead, so the effect appeared from the activation of areas of knowledge in semantic memory and the application of relevant schema for learning a new phenomenon. (shrink)

This book presents programmatic texts on biosemiotics, written collectively by world leading scholars in the field (Deacon, Emmeche, Favareau, Hoffmeyer, Kull, Markoš, Pattee, Stjernfelt). In addition, the book includes chapters which focus closely on semiotic case studies (Bruni, Kotov, Maran, Neuman, Turovski). According to the central thesis of biosemiotics, sign processes characterise all living systems and the very nature of life, and their diverse phenomena can be best explained via the dynamics and typology of sign relations. The authors are (...) therefore presenting a deeper view on biological evolution, intentionality of organisms, the role of communication in the living world and the nature of sign systems - all topics which are described in this volume. This has important consequences on the methodology and epistemology of biology and study of life phenomena in general, which the authors aim to help the reader better understand. (shrink)

V filozofiji duha poteka razprava med stališčema internalizma ter eksternalizma. Prvi trdi, da okolje organizma ni pomembno pri razlagi duševnih stanj. Drugi pa pravi, da je pomembno. Metafora se zdi izrecno internalistična. Mislim pa, da lahko zagovarjamo prav nasprotno mnenje, da je njena vloga izrecno eksternalistična, in da mora biti takšna tudi interpretacija metafore. To stališče lahko branimo tako, da se najprej ozremo na zaznavne procese. Zdravorazumsko mnenje nam pravi, da zaznavamo stvari neposredno tedaj, ko jih zaznavamo vizualno, s svojim (...) vidom. Ce gledam na stol, je moja zaznavna naravnanost usrediščena na stol. V primeru jezika pa bi bila vloga besede »stol« v tem, da se nanaša na stol. Tako bi se zdele metafore nekaj ne-dobesednega ter zategadelj nekaj nekoristnega. Nasprotno menim, da prinese metaforična uporaba jezika znaten dobiček. Začnimo z zaznavanjem. Ce se ozremo na vizualno zaznavanje, denimo na gledanje stola, vidimo, da obstajajo spremenljivke zornega kota v organizmovem preračunavanju informacije, da pa imamo tudi spremenljivke zornega kota, ki pridejo iz okolja. Zorni koti v okolju so pogoj za notranjo obdelavo zornih kotov informacije. Jezik, kakršnega uporablja organizem, je vsekakor obeležen z zornimi koti, v kolikor ga primerjamo z umetnimi jeziki. Značilnosti zornega kota v jeziku najbolje predstavijo metafore. Metafore obstajajo zato, da bi nam pomagale pri zaznavanju okolja, ki je tipično okolje srednjerazsežnih predmetov. Prav tako pa nam pomagajo pri dejavnosti v tem okolju. Značilnosti zornega kota torej združujejo vizualno zaznavanje ter metaforični jezik, kakršnega uporabljajo organizmi. Ponuja se sklep, da moramo metafore interpretirati eksternalistično, ter da prav to predstavlja izhodišče za odgovor na vprašanje, zakaj metafore sploh obstajajo. S stališča razvojne teorije gledano torej obstaja možnost, da metaforo naturaliziramo. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Can The Psychopathologized Speak?Notes on Social Objectivity and Psychiatric ScienceAwais Aftab*, MD (bio)In "Exclusion of Psychopathologized Standpoints Due to Hermeneutical Ignorance Undermines Psychiatric Objectivity" (2022), Bennett Knox offers a compelling argument that failure of psychiatric community to engage with the "psychopathologized" in processes such as the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) constitutes a form of epistemic injustice and threatens the social objectivity of (...) psychiatric science. I find myself in agreement with the central thesis and I am glad to see it articulated so well by Knox. While it is clear that the exclusion of psychopathologized standpoints in psychiatric science cannot be justified, there are issues that arise that require further clarification, and may generate disagreements, when we consider the complexities of how this inclusion is to take place, what requirements can be imposed on this process of inclusion, and the relationship between the DSM and psychiatric science broadly when it comes to social objectivity.The Methodological Objectivity of the DSM Does Not Exhaust the Methodological Objectivity of Psychiatric ScienceThe DSM is a nosological project within a particular historical context, operating with a certain set of assumptions (Aftab & Ryznar, 2021). The DSM has limitations in terms of what sorts of perspectives it can meaningfully incorporate, but the limitations of the DSM are not the limitations of psychiatric science. This is because psychiatric science is a pluralistic domain and includes many different methodologies and perspectives (Jerotic & Aftab, 2021). As one example, the DSM is poorly equipped to capture the phenomenology of psychiatric conditions. It is not something that it sets out to do. This, however, only becomes a serious problem if we adopt the attitude "if it's not in the DSM then it doesn't really count." Unfortunately, many in the psychiatric community have [End Page 267] adopted this sort of attitude, at least implicitly, resulting in a serious neglect of phenomenology (and various other perspectives, including those of the psychopathologized), leading Nancy Andreasen to bemoan the "death of phenomenology." (Andreasen, 2007) The DSM is methodologically limited by design; there are things that it will fail to do. The appropriate response is to acknowledge these inherent limitations. Other perspectives such as neurodiversity or Hearing Voices Movement also bring their own sets of assumptions and limitations. The DSM is simply one element, one perspective, one methodology in a scientific field that is capable of and ought to adopt a plurality of perspectives and methodologies. This is worth pointing out because Knox appears to assume that if it proves difficult or impossible for the DSM to include radically diverse perspectives, then "all the worse for psychiatry's objectivity." If it is impossible for the DSM, that does not mean that it is also impossible for psychiatric science.1In Determining What Counts as Inappropriate Exclusion, What Is the Role of Scientific Expertise?Longino herself brings up this question: "in determining what counts as inappropriate exclusion of dissenting perspectives, does it matter what kind of issue is involved? Are the duties of inclusion different when the question is, Should we be trying to learn about such and such, for example, atomic fission? than when it is, Is atomic fission a controllable or uncontrollable process?" (Longino, 2002, p. 133) The danger that needs to be averted here is that of trivializing expertise and placing experts on an equal footing with non-experts, a danger that is strikingly illustrated by our social response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.Take an example from medicine. Individuals with lung cancer have a lot to offer when it comes to the treatment of lung cancer, including their experiences of care, and choice of, say, aggressive chemotherapy vs palliative comfort care, etc. but how much do they have to contribute on the matter of the histopathological classification of lung cancer? Consider the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) (Kotov et al., 2021). This quantitative nosological project has a very specific aim: to determine the patterns of covariation among psychiatric symptoms using statistical techniques such as factor analysis. This... (shrink)