On learning and education as discussed around the Tartu semiotics

Abstract

At first glance, there does not seem to be much explicit interest in the semiotics of learning and education as regards the Tartu–Moscow School of Semiotics in the 20th century, yet at the same time the field of learning and teaching emerges as extremely important from the point of view of general semiotics. The article presents some reflections on problems of learning and education as published in the journal Sign Systems Studies and discussed in the Tartu School of Semiotics in various epochs, as well as in the academic context surrounding it. It takes a particular interest in how the issues related to education were approached by the School’s leading figures Juri Lotman, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Boris Uspenskij. It also appears that several scholars who have closely collaborated with Tartu semioticians (Paul Cobley, Myrdene Anderson, etc.), have also displayed an interest in learning and education. The rise of interest in this field can be explained by the influence of cognitive semiotics which has been advancing considerably in the 21st century.