WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF DYNAMIC SEMIOTICS?

To understand the specificity of René Thom's scientific proposal, it is essential to revisit its foundational sources. The originality of his contributions and the interest they arouse in general Semiotics are accompanied by an intense epistemological debate, both within the discipline and in the possibility of transferring paradigms between the Human and Social Sciences and the Exact Sciences. This approach interlinks various areas of knowledge, demonstrating the complexity and depth of dynamic semiotics, whose impact goes beyond the conventional limits of scientific thought.

Thom's Semiotics, developed since the mid-1960s, is based on catastrophe theory and the theory of pregnances and saliences, inspired by a vast set of theoretical sources. These sources span various domains of knowledge, demonstrating the breadth and interdisciplinary reach of Thom's ideas (Bundgaard, & Stjernfelt, 2015). Among these, we can highlight: Mathematical Foundations?Dynamic semiotics has an essentially phenomenological mathematical core. René Thom argued that, in various contexts such as biology, it is impossible to specify the details of the underlying biochemical process, and can only describe the set of possible discontinuous changes (called "elementary catastrophes") at the surface level. (Zeeman, 1977). Inspired by mathematicians such as Brouwer, Riemann, Poincaré, and Weyl (Zeeman, 1977), Thom conceived a theory that describes the surface behavior of distinct systems, regardless of their substrate. This independence from the underlying matter endowed the theory with a semiotic character, allowing for the interpretation of morphological patterns as signs of complex processes. This approach provides a dynamic understanding of structural transformations in natural and social systems.

Biological Influences

Thom was grounded in "Catastrophe Theoretical Biology" and authors such as Conrad Hal Waddington (1957), Jakob von Uexküll (1934), Kurt Goldstein, and Konrad Lorenz. From Waddington, Thom adopted the notion of "chreode" to describe preferential biological development trajectories. Thom's semiotic interpretation of the initial phases of epigenesis derives from this influence, linking it to biolinguistics and ethology. The interconnection between biological growth patterns and semiotic representation advanced the understanding of living systems as dynamic structures in constant transformation.

Philosophy and Epistemology

Thom's philosophy is deeply rooted in Aristotelian realism (Aristotle, 2014) and Kantian and Husserlian thought. Through "Esquisse d'une Sémiophysique" (Thom, 1988), he proposes a common-sense ontology based on the reinterpretation of Aristotelian physics. According to Thom, the concept of perception consists of extracting form and structure, governed by the same morphogenetic principles that regulate objects of perception. The connection between philosophy and semiotics enabled an innovative epistemological approach that integrates qualitative and quantitative knowledge.

Psychology

Thom was influenced by the principles of Gestalt Psychology, especially by the works of Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang K?hler. Thom, in his 1973 article, states: "The fact that a theory of form pregnance is possible was the essential doctrine of Gestalt Theory, which W. K?hler assembled with courage and clarity." The intertwining between epistemology and semiotics is highlighted in Thom's famous phrase: "What must be investigated is a theory of language that implies simultaneously a theory of knowledge," thus ensuring that this "intelligible ontology" is intrinsically linked to his semiotics. The duality between salience and pregnance in the ontology is reflected in the duality between "name" and "verb" in linguistics.

Anthropology

James George Frazer, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, and Gilbert Durand (1960): Thom's semiotics advances surprising reflections on hunting as an element involved in the origins of symbolism. The main ideas are based on a conception similar to that of Uexküll, in which there is a circular structure that links animal metabolism to an external action, identifying signs in the animal's search for prey. The animal must be able to recognize certain signs to search for its prey (predators, sexual partners, rivals, etc.).

Linguistics

Authors such as Lucien Tesnière (1959), Roman Jakobson (1982), and Hansjakob Seiler also influenced Thom. It seems reasonable to assert that Thom's theory of language has a certain affinity with that of Tesnière, although it was not constructed in the same field. When it is stated that the central question posed to linguistics is to understand how language can, syntactically, simulate the structure of events in a given situation, and when it is considered that these event structures can be grouped into determinable types, then the rest follows naturally:

?? There must be recurring semantic forms capable of rearticulating this interactional structure.

?? There must be lexical entities tasked with expressing this type of content, namely, verbs. Unlike Tesnière, Thom explicitly seeks to reconduct the linguistic structure to the world.

Semiotics?

Eco, Hjelmslev, Propp, Greimas, Jean Petitot, Per Aage Brandt: Thom mainly reworks Greimas' semiotic square in its narratological version, that is, as the formalization of an ordered cyclic sequence of transformations of states or decisive narrative points (interpreted as "catastrophes"). His reinterpretation consists of:

?? Removing from the semiotic square its "logical ornamentation" ("Cyclic Structures in Semiotics", Thom, 1990: 67-91).

?? Proposing a dynamic modeling of its formal and logical structure, conceiving it as a cyclical morphological structure. While there may not seem to be deep theoretical affinities between Thom and Greimas, the project of developing dynamic interpretations of formal models has an essential historical significance: the naturalization of meaning. Thom anticipates the general schematism of Petitot and the naturalization of the structure, which was initially carried out through the topologization of the semiotic square.

Conclusion?

Dynamic semiotics is not just a semiotic theory in the traditional sense but rather an inter- and transdisciplinary approach, articulating principles of the exact sciences and the social and human sciences. Its fundamental contribution lies in the ability to model transformations and ruptures on the surface of phenomena, providing a new interpretative paradigm to understand the dynamics of perception, language, and culture.

Bibliography

·?????? Aristotle, 2014. Complete Works. Paris, éditions Flammarion.

·?????? Brandt, Per Aage, 1992. The Modal Framework of Meaning. Aarhus University Press.

·?????? Bundgaard, Peer & Stjernfelt, Frederik, (Eds.) 2015. Investigations Into the Phenomenology and the Ontology of the Work of Art. Dordrecht, Springer. Wildgen & Brandt (Eds) 2010, 43-78 and Stjernfelt, Frederik, 2007 Diagrammatology. Ontology, and Semiotics, Dordrecht, Springer

·?????? Durand, Gilbert, 1960. Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary. Paris, Dunod.

·?????? Jakobson, Roman, 1982. Essays on General Linguistics, vol. I-II. Paris, Minuit.

·?????? Petitot, Jean, 1985. Morphogenesis of Meaning. Paris, PUF.

·?????? Tesnière, Lucien, 1959. Elements of Structural Syntax. Paris, Klinksieck.

·?????? Thom, René, 1973. The Temporal Evolution of Catastrophes. Utrecht State Univ.

·?????? Thom, René, 1988. Sketch of a Semiophysics. Paris, Interéditions.

·?????? Uexküll, Jakob von, 1934. Animal Worlds and Human World followed by the Theory of Significance. Paris, Den?el.

·?????? Waddington, Conrad Hal, 1957. The Strategy of the Genes. London, George Allen & Unwin.

·?????? Zeeman, Christopher, 1977. Catastrophe Theory: Selected Papers 1972-1977. Cambridge, Addison-Wesley.

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