Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
generation to the next which entails information transfer in space and time. The
identical twin studies of the human brain cognitive functions using functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique (Koten Jr. et al. 2009) indicates
that brain functions, such as memorizing and recognition, are partly gene-depen-
dent and partly gene-independent, that
is, quasi-deterministic with respect
to
genetic influence, consistent with the
principle of constrained freedom
.
6.2 Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs that dates back to ancient times when farmers
predicted the weather from cloud patterns in the sky, or doctors diagnosed diseases
based on the symptoms of patients. The American chemist-logician-philosopher
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) has made a major contribution to establishing
the field of modern semiotics which has been applied to a wide range of disciplines
from linguistics to art, to philosophy, and to biology (Sebeok 1990; Emmeche 2002,
2003; Hoffmeyer 1996; Barbieri 2008a, b, c; Fern´ndez 2008). Since signs can be
divided into two types - macroscopic (e.g., stop signs) and microscopic (e.g., DNA) -
based on their physical sizes, it would follow that semiotics itself can be divided into
two branches -
macrosemiotics
and
microsemiotics
(Ji 2001, 2002a). Few biologists
would deny that DNA molecules are
molecular signs,
since they encode (or refer to)
RNA and protein molecules that are different from themselves. Likewise, few
biologists would deny that the cell is the smallest physical system that can read and
implement the genetic information/instructions encoded in DNA, leading to the
following conclusions:
Molecular and cell biology constitute a part of
biosemiotics
, the study of living
systemsviewedassignprocessors(Emmeche 2003), and since the cell is arguably
the smallest DNA-based physical system that can process molecular information
and perform molecular computation in the sense of Wolfram (2002) (Ji 1999a)
and since the cell is the smallest unit of all living systems,
microsemiotics
constitutes the foundation of
biosemiotics
,justas
statistical mechanics
underlies
thermodynamics
.
6.2.1 The Peircean Theory of Signs
According to Peirce,
A
sign
,
,is
something
which stands to
somebody
for
something
in some
respect
or
capacity
. (Buchler 1955, p. 99)
...
(6.19)
Thus, “apple” is a sign referring to a juicy spherical fruit to someone, E, who
speaks English. But “apple” is not a sign for a Korean, K, who does not understand
English. For K, the sign, S, for the same object, O, is not “apple” but “sah-gwah.”
