Mereology and semiotics
Mereology and semiotics

Summary/Abstract: This paper gives a first overview over the role of mereology — the theory of parts and wholes — in semiotics. The mereology of four major semioticians — Husserl, Jakobson, Hjelmslev, and Peirce is presented briefly and its role in the overall architecture of each of their theories is outlined — with Brentano tradition as reference. Finally, an evaluation of the strength and weaknesses of the four is undertaken, and some guide-lines for further research is proposed. Strange as it may seem, mereology — the theory of parts and wholes — has only rarely caught the explicit attention of semiotics.

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