Abstract
Biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” by which he meant a unit of culture. Dan Dennett continued by defining a meme as a bunch of bits of information. This paper explores the “meme” and how it is semiotic, both in its technical sense and in its popular sense and explores how memes signify both in terms of classical semiotics and also in terms of post-structuralist thought.
References
Archive Librarian. 2015. Bereshit Ranbbah. The ethics of suicide digital archive. https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/selections/bereshit-rabbah/ (accessed 21 September 2020).Search in Google Scholar
Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. Simulacra and simulation, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chandler, Daniel & Rod Munday. 2011. A dictionary of communication. Oxford: Oxford Reference.10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Dawkins, Richard. 1982. The extended phenotype. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dawkins, Richard. 2016. The selfish gene: Fortieth anniversary edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dennett, Dan. 2002. Dan Dennett on dangerous memes. In TED Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes (accessed 21 September 2020).10.1037/e597252010-001Search in Google Scholar
Dubuc, B. n.d. Tool module: Chomsky’s universal grammar. In The Brain From Top to Bottom. http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_rouge06.html (accessed 17 March 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Eco, Umberto. 1976a. Peirce’s notion of interpretant. Comparative Literature 91(6). 1457–1472. https://doi.org/10.2307/2907146.Search in Google Scholar
Eco, Umberto. 1976b. A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.10.1007/978-1-349-15849-2Search in Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund 1913. On the interpration of dreams, D. A. Brill (trans). New York Macmillan. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Dreams (accessed 21 September 2020).10.1037/10561-000Search in Google Scholar
Heinlein, Robert A. 1973. Time enough for love. New York: G. P. Putnam.Search in Google Scholar
Hewitson, O. 2010. What does lacan say about… desire? In Lacan Online. http://www.lacanonline.com/index/2010/05/what-does-lacan-say-about-desire/ (accessed 21 September 2020).Search in Google Scholar
Kristeva, Julia. 1986. Word, dialogue, and novel. In Toril Moi (ed.), A Kristeva reader, 34–62. New York: Columbia University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1986. The social stratification of (r) in New York City. In Michael D. Harold & Byron Allen (eds.), Dialect and language variation, 304–329. London: Academic Press https://doi.org/10.1016/B978–0-12–051130–3.50029-X.10.1016/B978-0-12-051130-3.50029-XSearch in Google Scholar
Lacan, Jacques 1985. Sign, symbol, imaginary. In M. Blonsky (ed.), On signs, 201–209. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 2003. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226470993.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Miszei-Ward, Rachel. 2012. Politics, race, and political fly-billing. Comparative American Studies 10. 177–187. 10.1179/1477570012Z.00000000013Search in Google Scholar
Peirce, Charles Sanders 1931–1966. The collected papers of Charles S. Peirce 8 vols. C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss & A. W. Burks (eds.), Cambridge: Harvard University press. [Reference to Peirce’s papers will be designated CP followed by volume and paragraph number].Search in Google Scholar
Piantadosi, Steven T., Harry Tily & Edward Gibson. 2012. The communicative function of ambiguity in language. Cognition 122. 280–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.10.004.Search in Google Scholar
Pierce, John Robinson 1980. An introduction to information theory: Symbols, signal, and noise. New York: Dover.Search in Google Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand de 1959. Course in general lingusitics. C. Bally, & S.W. Albert (eds.), W. Baskin (trans.). New York: Philosophical Library. https://archive.org/stream/courseingenerall00saus/courseingenerall00saus_djvu.txt (accessed 23 March 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Sharp, David 2017. One of the last remaining Shakers dies at 89, leaving just 2. AP News. https://apnews.com/749eec6f79634be687653f0aba5773dc (accessed 21 September 2020).Search in Google Scholar
Smucker, J. M., A. Boyd & D. O Mitchell. n.d. Floating signifier. Beautiful Trouble. https://beautifultrouble.org/theory/floating-signifier/ (accessed 27 March 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Stang, Nicholas F. 2018. Kant’s transcendental idealism. In Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/kant-transcendental-idealism (accessed 21 March 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Stein, Gertrude. 1922. Sacred Emily. Geography and plays. https://www.lettersofnote.com/p/sacred-emily-by-gertrude-stein.html (accessed 21 March 2019).Search in Google Scholar
Stein, Stephen 1992. The Shaker experience in America: A history of the United Society of Believers. New Haven: Yale University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Tannen, Deborah. 1994. Gender and discourse. Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Urbancic, Anne. 1994. Urban semiotics: Where is downtown? Signifying Behaviour 1(1). 23–34.Search in Google Scholar
Vico, Giambattista. 1984. The new science. T. G. Bergin & M. H. Fisch (trans.). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Search in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston