Article

The Threshold of Representations. Integrating Semiotics and the Cognitive Sciences

in Versus n. 128, Forme di vita, forme del corpo / Forms of Life, Forms of the Body: Case Studies, pp.157-174

Abstract (english)

Representations are core epistemic entities of both cognitive sciences and semiotics. The latter can be used as a theoretical resource to better define the object of study "representation", and to provide clarity over the use of this concept. In doing so, it can offer interesting insights to intervene into the debate on representational formats elaborated in the cognitive sciences. Semiotics may function as an instrument of criticism in the discussion of an increasingly popular representational format, which has been postulated to explain situated embodied action: action-oriented representation. In addition, an approach to embodied action that integrates some insights from Peirce's semiotics with the theory of cognitive niches may offer a different theoretical perspective on the problem that action-oriented representations are supposed to explain.