The Platonic Triad and Its Chinese Counterpart
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Signs - International journal of semiotics
Publication Date
2009
Volume
3
First Page
41
Last Page
56
Publisher
Royal School of Library and Information Science
Keywords
The semiotic triangle, Plato, Chinese semiotics, semiotic realism
Abstract
"The Platonic Triad and Its Chinese Counterpart" reviews two parallel traditions of semiotic realism represented by Plato and Husserl in the West and Mo Zi and Ouyang Jian in China respectively. These traditions were largely independent of each other before the 20th century, but they share two fundamental assumptions with regard to meaning. First, there exists an extrasemiotic world with its own qualities and attributes. Second, human consciousness is capable of knowing and then representing the external world with the help of language. Although there have arisen some different theories on this issue over the centuries, few of them seem to have systematically challenged Mo Zi and Plato’s presupposition of an ontological reality which gives rise to meaning, hence the historical dominance of the realist theory.
Print ISSN
19028822
Publisher Statement
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Ding, E. (2009). The Platonic triad and its Chinese counterpart. Signs - International journal of semiotics, 3, 41-56.