Humanity’s Symbolic Universe: Language, Signs, and Meaning
The Human Symbolic Universe
Many capacities make human beings unique creatures, but they all share at least the use of a symbolic universe. From the realms of science, morality, art, and more, the human world is not merely a world of physical capabilities. The realities of representation allow us to work in a thousand different ways on reality without having to act directly upon it. The world of representation is not a copy of objective reality but the recreation of a world seen through human eyes; it is a humanized universe.
Characteristics of Signs and Communication
Our incredible and powerful ability to represent would have no significance in our lives if it remained enclosed within the field of subjectivity, within the interiority of persons. The universe of representation acquires a new dimension when it becomes a tool of communication. We then speak of symbols, of shared significance, tools that enrich us and allow us to understand other ways of signs, making communication dramatically effective.
Signs possess two key characteristics:
- Representation and Transmission: The use of some elements to represent and transmit something other than themselves.
- Conventionality: The progressive conventionality of the various elements chosen for signification.
Types of Signs: Index, Icon, and Symbol
Understanding different types of signs is crucial for grasping symbolic communication:
- Index: An index is a trace or effect whose result reveals the presence of some causal element. As mere physical effects, they do not inherently contain communicative intent.
- Icon: Icons fully embody communicative intent and also the fundamental idea of a covenant or agreement—a joint decision for one thing to represent another.
- Symbol: Symbols, in addition to being conventional signs, are arbitrary. This is undoubtedly the great leap in human communication: the ability to agree that anything can serve to evoke anything else.
The Linguistic Code and Word Function
All symbols are arranged in codes, meaning they gather signs and set rules for their use. The linguistic code, highlighted by its plasticity and capacity, is the most significant. Signs in their oral form are undoubtedly the most natural and, secondly, the most referentially potent.
The basic conception of words is that their function is to take the place of objects and to evoke them in our partner’s mind. The primary language function would be to make reference, guiding us back to another thing.
Challenges in Communication
Communication, despite its power, faces several challenges:
- The simplest words can become equivocal if their meaning is not made explicit when precise understanding is required.
- When the codes of two people or two communities are entirely different, the situation can be complicated, though not necessarily equivocal.
- The mere overlap of codes does not guarantee success in communication.
- Problems often arise when there is a semblance of communication—when, under the same signifier, the sender and receiver interpret different things. What is most surprising is how often this happens, whether subtly or significantly.
The Logical Conception of Language
From this logical perspective, we can know reality, and language is the tool by which we name what we know and truly communicate it. What interests philosophers is something prior to any concrete discipline: the correct determination of the structures of thought and language.
Logicians remind us that many of our linguistic “headaches” come from violating the rules of language and constructive thought. Advocates for the priority of logic in language analysis are dedicated to constructing logical systems. These systems allow us, on one hand, to represent what we want to say unequivocally, and on the other, to determine which logical consequences justify our claims and which do not.