On the concept of “ostension”: a survey of contemporary semiotics
On the concept of “ostension”: a survey of contemporary semiotics

Summary/Abstract: This paper dwells on the concept of ostension and it seeks to provide a critical overview of the main perspectives on this notion developed within semiotics. Roman Jakobson, Umberto Eco and Ivo Osolsobě are among those leading figures that drew attention to semiosis by ostension. Yet, this concept has deeper roots in western thought as shown, for instance, by St. Augustine’s treatise De Magistro where ‘telling’ and ‘showing’ are thought of as two ways of acquiring knowledge. This work is an attempt to disentangle what the previously mentioned authors thought about ostension and to pinpoint its relevance for semiotics.

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