Communication at the Intersection between Nature and Culture. A Global Semiotic Perspective

The subject matter of this chapter is connected with the debate concerning the existence of semiosis and communication throughout the entire biosphere, involving all living organisms, from the unicellular to the multicellular, traditionally distributed across three great “superkingdoms” formed of (nonhuman and human) animals, plants and funghi. Attention is also devoted to the question where the microorganisms belong, such as, firstly, prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and bacteria, and secondly, protists and algae, which are neither animals, nor plants, nor fungi. Hence, the author additionally discusses the consequences of the acceptance of the assumption of biologically inclined semioticians who claim that there exists intercellular communication realized through the inheritance of genetic code in the generational development of organisms. What forms the topic of detailed reflections are such problems as differences in the modeling of extraorganismic reality, and similarities between the observable features of organisms in the forms having a separate evolutionary origin, i.e., surface analogy, as opposed to developmental or structural similarities based on common descent or common source of origin, genetic homology. Much attention is however devoted from the perspective of global semiotics to the distinction between humans and animals with respect to the differences in how they communicate in terms of anthroposemiotics and zoosemiotics, as, e.g., conventionality or intentionality. Confronting different phases in the evolution of the species Homo, the human being emerges as a “speaking animal”, a species-specific trai