On Consciousness and Semiosis
Per Aage Brandt
Cognitive Semiotics September 1, 2007 DOI: 10.1515/cogsem.2007.1.fall2007.46 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 6 |
| Key points | Proposes a stratified theory of consciousness in which a primordial narrative structure grounds semiotic content, and consciousness complexifies across five canonical levels from simple being-awake to human self-reflexivity, with Cro-Magnons diverging from other species midway through these strata. |
Abstract
On Consciousness and SemiosisI will here sketch out, using a basic intuitive model, the contours of a theory of the elementary content of animal and human consciousness.This model targets consciousness as it evolved from mammals to primates to Cro-Magnons, and develops accounts of content structure in basic consciousness from simple being-awake to higher and more specifically human notions of self and reflexivity.It postulates a primordial, grounding narrative structure and suggests a gradual complexification through increasing supply from memory and empathie information from other subjects.The complex result offers an architecture of canonical levels of consciousness and self; this tentative stratification spans from constitutive semiotic structures to aesthetic and linguistic forms of 'being conscious'.Five such strata are described; somewhere midway Cro-Magnons are abandoned by other species, primates or mammals, however domesticated or trained.