Overview of the Project
The framework for the project consists of a web of philosophical, scientific, and theological hypotheses. Click on the diagram below (or scroll down this page) for a summary of each element of the project and links to further information.
Peirce's semiotics and categories
At the centre of the web of hypotheses is the semiotics (theory of signs) of American philosopher and scientist C. S. Peirce (1839-1914). Peirce proposed that all signification and representation consists of a triadic relation between a sign (or sign-vehicle), an object, and an interpretant (an interpretative response - not necessarily made by a conscious or human interpreter).
Underpinning Peirce's triadic semiotics is his three-fold system of fundamental metaphysical categories. Firstness is the category of sheer quality or potentiality. Secondness is the category of otherness, difference, and actuality. Thirdness is the category of mediation, interpretation and generality.
Biosemiotics: A general definition of interpretation
Biosemiotics is a field of theoretical biology which applies semiotic theory (especially Peirce's semiotics) to living systems. A core biosemiotic hypothesis is that semiotic processes (i.e. the production and /or interpretation of signs ) are a fundamental aspect of life. Some philosophers of biology are sceptical about such claims, suggesting that certain allegedly semiotic systems, such as the genetic 'code', can be fully described in purely mechanistic terms.
A key philosophical part of our project involves an attempt to develop a general definition of interpretation that is fully naturalistic (i.e. does not require reference to any forces or powers beyond the natural physical order) and yet is irreducible to purely mechanistic explanation (i.e. cannot be fully explained only by reference to sequences of mechanical causes and effects). If such a definition could be shown to have explanatory power beyond mere mechanistic kinds of explanation then a place would be established for the discipline of biosemiotics within mainstream theoretical biology. Read more in our article A General Definition of Interpretation and its Application to Origin of Life Research.
Origin of life research
In order to test our general definition of interpretation (see above) we would like to be able to demonstrate that it leads to testable scientific hypotheses. We are particularly interested in the problem of the origin of life, and we hypothesise that the acquisition of a capacity for interpretation was an important step in the emergence of living things.
We and our co-investigators are undertaking scientific work to test our philosophical work on the definition of interpretation. This scientific work involves applying the definition to two different proto-biotic systems. First, we are using computer modelling to investigate the effect of adding a capacity for interpretation to a hypothetical self-reproducing molecular system called an 'autocell'. Second, we are investigating the idea that certain kinds of RNA molecule might be capable of evolving a capacity to act as a 'minimal molecular semiotic entity'.
Further information about our origin of life work will be made available on our Origin of Life page (coming soon). We are delighted to have the opportunity to develop our philosophical work in collaboration with scientific colleagues. Our scientific co-investigators do not necessarily share the wider theological and philosophical perspective of the project; indeed, our origin of life work is intended to stand in its own right as a project in natural science.
A semiotic model of the Trinity
The starting point for the theological components of our project is the observation of surprising non-trivial parallels between Peirce's semiotics / categories and the way in which Christian thinkers have come to speak of God as Trinity. The idea of an unoriginate source of all being, God the Father, has similarities to the category of Firstness. The idea of the Word or Son of God, who is other than the Father and who images or represents him, has similarities to the category of Secondness. The idea of the Spirit, who mediates between the Father and the Son, and between God and the world, has similarities to the category of Thirdness.
The idea that Peirce's categories and semiotics offer a model or analogy of the Trinitarian relations is the core theological hypothesis of the project.
Incarnation and Peirce's taxonomy of signs
Our 'semiotic model of the Trinity' (see above) may appear to be no more than a piece of metaphysical speculation unless it can be shown that it engages with, and helps to make sense of, reflection on the significance of the person Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, does our semiotic model of the Trinity contribute to an understanding of the 'economy of salvation' and assist Christians in the life of discipleship?
To begin to answer this question we are investigating what the semiotic model can contribute to understanding the Christian concept of the Incarnation of the Word of God. Our hypothesis is that Peirce's taxonomy of signs can help to clarify what it means to say that in the person of Jesus 'the Word became flesh' (John 1.14) and that he was 'the image of the invisible God' (Colossians 1.15). Our hypothesis is that, in terms of Peirce's taxonomy of signs, to say that Jesus was the incarnation of the Word is to say that his whole life was an 'iconic qualisign' of the being of God.
Semiotics and anthropology: A semiotic theory of human evolution
In the light of our semiotic approach to the Christian concept of Incarnation (see above), the question arises: what sort of creature would be capable of interpreting an 'iconic qualisign' of the being of God? This question invites a semiotic approach to anthropology. It is often said that what makes humans distinctive is our capacity to use 'symbols', which in Peirce's semiotics means the kinds of sign whose relation to their objects is given by convention (such as most words in a language). We hypothesise, in contrast, that what makes humans distinctive is not simply our 'symbolic' capabilities but our capacity creatively to combine or juxtapose different types of sign, particularly symbols and icons.
Scientific palaeo-anthropology
We suggest that our semiotic approach to anthropology (see above) gives rise to a testable hypothesis in the science of palaeo-anthropology. Our hypothesis is that the Upper Palaeolithic revolution in human cultural capabilities (the flourishing of a complex of representational, ritual, decorative, and perhaps religious behaviours about 30-40 000 years ago in Europe, with earlier precursors elsewhere) was a result of crossing a threshold of semiotic capability. Specifically, we suggest that this threshold was the ability to combine symbolic communication with the iconic representation of relations between things or concepts.
Like our work on the origin of life, this element of the project, though arising out of our philosophical and theological interests, would be intended to stand in its own right as a research programme in natural science.
Theological anthropology: Interpretation and participation in God
Our work on a semiotic approach to anthropology and on the Christian concept of the Incarnation leads to a further hypothesis in theological anthroplology. We suggest that human intepretative responses (which in Peirce's semiotics may take the form of feelings, actions or thoughts) may be understood as the basis of the journey of Christian discipleship. By responding to the sign constituted by the incarnate Word, humans are drawn into the semiotic life of God. This may offer a new way of understanding the theological concept of theosis, or participation in God, which plays an important role in the theology of the Orthodox tradition.
A theology of nature: Vestiges of the Trinity in creation
In our web of hypotheses we are now brought round full circle. Combining the idea that semiotic processes are fundamental to life itself (the core hypothesis of biosemiotics) with the semiotic understanding of human nature and the way in which creatures are drawn onto the life of God, we have a picture of the created order teeming with signs of different kinds. Further combining this perspective with the idea that semiotic processes offer a model or analogy for the Trinity, we hypothesise that the triadic sign-processes in the world, and the underlying three-fold structure of metaphysical categories which supports them, are 'vestiges of the Trinity in creation'.
Hence our parallel semiotic approaches to theology and biology give rise to a new 'theology of nature' - a new way of looking at the world that is in continuity with the Christian tradition, focussed through the lens of Peircean philosophy, and in dialogue with contemporary scientific advances.
