Abstract
In this essay, eight fallacies of elementary semiotics are presented, analyzed from an empirical viewpoint, and corrected to the best of my present knowledge. These eight fallacies are called:
The Sign Fallacy
The Fallacy of Interpretation at a Distance
The Fallacy of Instantaneous Interpretation
The One-Way Interpretability Fallacy
The Inference Fallacy
The Fallacy of Things
The Fallacy of Isolation
The Realism Fallacy
By properly sensing and correcting these eight fallacies, we may see more deeply into semiotic structure, allowing us to develop theories more representative of that structure and thus reach a better understanding of the underlying semiotic reality. This advance in depth of understanding is comparable to the difference in depth of understanding of physical reality allowed by Aristotelian physics and that allowed by Newtonian physics. We can be optimistic, however, since we have the Einsteinian revolution in semiotics to look forward to.
About the author
Charls Pearson
Professor Pearson (b. 1932) is a founding member of the Semiotic Society of America, formerly serving on its Executive Committee, and also a member of the American Society for Information Science and a founder of its Special Interest Group for The Foundations of Information Science. He specializes in the experimental, theoretical, and mathematical foundations of semiotics, and also applies semiotics to language, logic, music, and law. He is the retiring editor of the CSS special section on Peirce.
References
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