Juri Lotman ja semiootika Tartu Ülikoolis

Abstract

Juri Lotman and semiotics
at the University of Tartu

Of all the researchers who have worked at the University of Tartu,
Juri Lotman (1922–1993, in the University of Tartu 1954–93) is still
one of the most well-known in the field of the humanities. During
his lifetime he competed mainly with Paul Ariste (1905-1990, Estonian
linguist) and already then the two individuals were juxtaposed
in terms of the “own and other” opposition. Even the semiotics that
Lotman developed is still surrounded by a certain nimbus of estrangement
and not only in the Estonian context. The article focuses, on
the one hand, on Lotman’s relations with Estonia as a person, his
place and importance in the Estonian history of thought, on the other
hand, it observes the development of semiotics as a discipline in Estonia
in the light of the reception of Lotman’s works.