Understanding irreducibility in semiosis via the image

Abstract

This paper will start by explaining both the nature and importance of irreducibility in the process of semiosis. Specifically, it will demonstrate how this concept is necessary to Peirce’s triadic approach to semiosis, Uexküll’s ‘functional circle’ and Lotman’s ‘creative function’ in human meaning making. These models will then be further elucidated through the non-semiotic lens of Bergson’s concept of ‘image’. All of these interrelated concepts of semiosis, including image, will then be explained via a novel, buildable and testable technology, which will ground semiosis in a physical process involving self-biasing circuits immersed in their own shared milieu of noise. Based on these arguments, the paper will conclude that semiosis can be understood as an irreducible image. This novel approach to semiosis can transform how the process of learning is understood and taught.