Biosemiotics and Evolution: The Natural Foundations of Meaning and Symbolism

Preface
	Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Contents
Editors and Contributors
Introduction: Biosemiotics and Evolution
	Bibliography
Part I: Life, Meaning, and Information
	Exploring the Philosophical Background and Scientific Foundations of Naturalist Approaches to Meaning and Symbolism
		1 Introduction
		2 Philosophical and Historical Background
		3 The Fundamental Phenomenological Connection Between Biosciences and Biosemiotics
		4 Conclusion
		References
	Life Sciences and the Natural History of Signs: Can the Origin of Life Processes Coincide with the Emergence of Semiosis?
		1 Introduction
		2 The Complexity of Living Processes
		3 DNA as Information
		4 The Origin of Information
		5 A World of Relationships
		6 Relationships versus Mechanisms
		7 Life as Emerging Semiosis
		8 Mechanistic Signals or Semiotic Signs
		9 Conclusions
		References
	A Proposal for a Biosemiotic Approach to Digitalization: Literacy as Modeling Competence
		1 Introduction: Semiotics, Embodiment, and Digitalization
		2 The Disembodiment of Text
		3 Mediality from an Affordance Perspective
		4 Digital Media and Natural Modeling
			4.1 Biosemiotics and Multimodality
			4.2 Biosemiotics and Simultaneous Participativity
		5 Concluding
		References
	Threshold, Meaning, and Life
		1 Introduction
		2 Threshold and Missing Link
		3 Two Paradigms of Continuity
		4 Threshold and Ententionality
		5 Meaning, Life, and Indeterminateness
		6 Final Remarks
		References
	How Information Gets Its Meaning
		1 Introduction
		2 Peirce´s Definition of Information
		3 Information in Perception, Cognition, and Experience
			3.1 Collateral Information
			3.2 Is Collateral Information Logarithmic?
		4 Sensations, Non-conscious Abductions, and Instinct
		5 Information in Its Semiotic Minute Aspects
		6 The Symbol as the Vehicle of Information
		7 Summary and Conclusion
		References
Part II: Semiosis and Evolution
	Inclusive Fitness Teleology and Darwinian Explanatory Pluralism: A Theoretical Sketch and Application to Current Controversies
		1 Introduction
		2 Darwinian Teleology and the Pluralism of Causes
		3 Formal Darwinism and Explanatory Pluralism
		4 The Four Causes, Revisited
		5 Pluralism and the Current Controversies
			5.1 Pluralism and the Current Controversies: (a)-The So-Called Extended Synthesis
			5.2 Pluralism and the Current Controversies: (b)-Explaining Altruism: The Multilevel/Kin Selection Controversy, Sketching an A...
		6 Conclusions
		Editorial Note: The Evolution of Meaning-From Neo-Darwinism to Biosemiotics
		References
	The Origins and Evolution of Design: A Stage-Based Model
		1 Introduction
		2 The Relevance of Cognitive Semiotics to the Study of Design
		3 A Model for the Evolution of Design
			3.1 Proto-Design
			3.2 Simple Design
			3.3 Complex Design
			3.4 Advanced Design
		4 Conclusions
		References
	Biosemiotics and Applied Evolutionary Epistemology: A Comparison
		1 Introduction
		2 Two Naturalized Approaches to Knowing and Knowledge
			2.1 Evolutionary Epistemology
				2.1.1 Traditional EE
				2.1.2 Non-Adaptationist EE
				2.1.3 Applied EE
			2.2 Biosemiotics
		3 Digging Deeper for Similarities and Divergences
			3.1 (Dis)Continuities in Knowledge and Semiosis
			3.2 The Scope of Evolution and the Importance of the Organism
		4 Defining the Organism-Environment Relationship: Old and New Cosmologies
			4.1 Non-Adaptationist EE and Biosemiotics Offer Similar Epistemologies and Ontologies
			4.2 Applied Evolutionary Epistemology (AEE) Beyond the Ontology/Epistemology Distinction
		5 Conclusion
		References
	Extended Synthesis and Jablonka and Lamb´s Four-Dimensional View of Evolution
		1 Introduction
		2 Four-Dimensional View of Evolution: Jablonka and Lamb (2005, 2014)
		3 On Reproduction
		4 Reproductionism
		5 Some Remarks on Ethology
		6 Toward the Method
		7 Conclusion
		References
Part III: Physics, Medicine, and Bioenergetics
	Physical Intentionality: The Phenomenological Roots of Biosemiotics
		1 Mental Intentionality
		2 Intentionality and Determination
		3 The Forceful Qualities
		4 Physical Intentionality
		5 Embodied Cognition
		References
	Cancer and Cell Death: A Biosemiotic Perspective
		1 Introduction
		2 Programmed Cell Death Mechanisms
		3 Cancer, Apoptosis, and Entropy
		4 Conclusion
		References
	Biosemiotics and Bioenergetics: Two Perspectives Compared
		1 Introduction
		2 Biosemiotics: Body and Meaning
			2.1 Historical Hints: Precursors and Pioneers
			2.2 Biosemiotics and the Concept of Umwelt: Some Ontological Considerations
			2.3 The Living World Between Relationships and Constraints
		3 Bioenergetics: Body and Meaning
			3.1 Historical Notes: From Reich to Lowen
			3.2 An Energetic Principle: The Functions of Charge and Discharge
			3.3 The Language of the Body: The Formation of Characters
		4 Conclusions
		References