Symbolarium (Wprowadzenie do projektu)
Symbolarium (An Introduction to the Project)

Summary/Abstract: This article introduces a research project whose aim is to produce a comprehensiveaccount of universal symbols appearing in all cultures. Ivanov builds on an idea proposedby Pavel Florensky a hundred years ago but also takes into account the work of laterscholars. He adds a diachronic dimension to the project (Carl Gustav Jung’s theory ofarchetypes), shedding a new light on humanity’s prehistory. The project first coversprimary geometrical (visual) symbols, then examines more complex verbal symbols andtheir impact on non-verbal symbols. Symbols used in the sciences (the sign systems ofmany scientific disciplines) and art (from archaic mythograms to the avant-garde of thetwentieth century) constitute a separate field. The development of the sciences andthe emergence of new disciplines entail changing and ever more complex systems ofsymbolic description and ways of constructing them.

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