What Distinguishes Human Understanding?

The central question of this book is “whether there is a qualitative difference in kind separating human understanding from the ‘understanding’ or intelligence of other animal species, or merely a quantitative difference of complexity and degree?” Deely attempts to answer this question by presenting an exposition “in the semiotics of the cognitive activity of organisms”. This book, therefore, is an analysis of semiotics in the cognitive activities of sensation, perception, and understanding. Three characteristics best describe Deely’s analysis: historically piercing, philosophically avant-garde, and successful. Deely successfully penetrates into the crux of our humanity. In doing so Deely’s semiotic theory also addresses the enduring philosophical debate over metaphysical realism versus idealism.