Semiotics
History and terminology

The importance of signs and signification has been recognized throughout much of the history of philosophy and psychology. The term derives from Ancient Greek σημειωτικός (sēmeiōtikós) 'observant of signs' (from σημεῖον (sēmeîon) 'a sign, mark, token'). For the Greeks, 'signs' (σημεῖον sēmeîon) occurred in the world of nature and 'symbols' (σύμβολον sýmbolon) in the world of culture. As such, Plato and Aristotle explored the relationship between signs and the world.

It would not be until Augustine of Hippo that the nature of the sign would be considered within a conventional system. Augustine introduced a thematic proposal for uniting the two under the notion of 'sign' (signum) as transcending the nature-culture divide and identifying symbols as no more than a species (or sub-species) of signum. A monograph study on this question would be done by Manetti (1987). These theories have had a lasting effect in Western philosophy, especially through scholastic philosophy.

The general study of signs that began in Latin with Augustine culminated with the 1632 Tractatus de Signis of John Poinsot and then began anew in late modernity with the attempt in 1867 by Charles Sanders Peirce to draw up a "new list of categories ". More recently Umberto Eco, in his Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, has argued that semiotic theories are implicit in the work of most, perhaps all, major thinkers.
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