“A general semiotics transforms, for the very fact of its theoretical claim, its own object.”

[O] : Introduction, 0.8
Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (1984)
Context: A general semiotics studies the whole of the human signifying activity — languages — and languages are what constitutes human beings as such, that is, as semiotic animals. It studies and describes languages through languages. By studying the human signifying activity it influences its course. A general semiotics transforms, for the very fact of its theoretical claim, its own object.

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Umberto Eco 120
Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic… 1932–2016

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