- University of Waikato, Centre for Global Studies in Education, Department Memberadd
- Semiotics, Philosophy of Education, Depth Psychology, Complex Systems Science, Hermeticism, Hermeneutics, and 9 moreGilles Deleuze, Pragmatism (Philosophy), Charles S. Peirce, Affect (Philosophy), Affect/Emotion, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Psychology of Unconscious, French Studies, and Continental Philosophyedit
- Inna Semetsky (1948-2021) was a researcher with a PhD in the area of educational philosophy and theory, M.Phil, MA i... moreInna Semetsky (1948-2021) was a researcher with a PhD in the area of educational philosophy and theory, M.Phil, MA in counseling psychology, and Grad.Dip.Ed in math/science education. She held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Monash University, and served as chief consultant to the Institute for Edusemiotic Studies (IES) in Melbourne, Australia. http://www.edusemiotics.org/
Edusemiotics is a new conceptual framework that integrates semiotics (a study of the action of signs and interpretation of symbols) with philosophy of education and learning theories. This short but insightful video (found online) addresses edusemiotics: https://youtu.be/r5qwKYRkT8w -- even if some nuances need to be clarified. The narrator links Edusemiotics to constructivist theories but it is only one half of the puzzle. Edusemiotics is equally constructivist and "expressionist" -- it cannot be otherwise because the paradox of the conjunction of opposites is always present! This is difficult to accept unless we take into consideration the deep layer of the unconscious in the psyche. Meanings are constructed or created, yes, but the impulse for this construction is because of the unconscious trying to express itself. Of course certain (affective) conditions should exist in experience for this to occur.
- Inna Semetskyedit
Semiotic Subjectivity in Education and Counseling demonstrates the importance of addressing the concept of the unconscious in learning. Exploring the innovative concept of edusemiotics, it challenges the received notion of learning as... more
Semiotic Subjectivity in Education and Counseling demonstrates the importance of addressing the concept of the unconscious in learning. Exploring the innovative concept of edusemiotics, it challenges the received notion of learning as solely academic and linguistic, instead offering an ethico-aesthetic paradigm that draws on transdisciplinary research in the context of this new direction in educational theory.
The chapters explore the production of subjectivity within the process of semiosis as the action and transformation of signs. An unorthodox pedagogy of the unconscious blends with the therapeutic dimension and produces subjectivities that emerge in the midst of the relational dynamics of experience. The book argues for holistic education that rejects the schism between matter and spirit pervading Western thinking and represents a shift in rethinking spirituality while never separating it from logic and reason. Giving voice to the unconscious contributes to learning and changing our habits as an important objective in educative and counseling practices.
The book critically examines the legacy of Charles S. Peirce, Lev S. Vygotsky and other forerunners of edusemiotics. It will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students across the fields of educational philosophy, educational psychology and counseling as well as science studies.
The chapters explore the production of subjectivity within the process of semiosis as the action and transformation of signs. An unorthodox pedagogy of the unconscious blends with the therapeutic dimension and produces subjectivities that emerge in the midst of the relational dynamics of experience. The book argues for holistic education that rejects the schism between matter and spirit pervading Western thinking and represents a shift in rethinking spirituality while never separating it from logic and reason. Giving voice to the unconscious contributes to learning and changing our habits as an important objective in educative and counseling practices.
The book critically examines the legacy of Charles S. Peirce, Lev S. Vygotsky and other forerunners of edusemiotics. It will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students across the fields of educational philosophy, educational psychology and counseling as well as science studies.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Tacit Knowledge, Psychotherapy and Counseling, Visual Semiotics, Jungian psychology, and 14 moreIntuition, Charles S. Peirce, John Dewey, Vygotsky, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Social Semiotics, Subjectivity, Habits, New Materialism, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Feminist new materialism, Eric Berne, Psychology of the Unconscious, and Edusemiotics
This book is dedicated to the great John Deely (d. 2017), a dear friend and colleague whose research in the theory and history of semiotics is unsurpassable. His work is a lasting inspiration for generations of students to come, in... more
This book is dedicated to the great John Deely (d. 2017), a dear friend and colleague whose research in the theory and history of semiotics is unsurpassable. His work is a lasting inspiration for generations of students to come, in philosophy, semiotics, and now edusemiotics. The handbook presents edusemiotics as a novel unified conceptual framework at the intersection of educational philosophy and theoretical semiotics
It collects cutting-edge theoretical and empirical research in this emergent field and
addresses the dimension of values and meaning in education and learning. Further,
the contributors explore the practical implications of edusemiotics in diverse global contexts
It collects cutting-edge theoretical and empirical research in this emergent field and
addresses the dimension of values and meaning in education and learning. Further,
the contributors explore the practical implications of edusemiotics in diverse global contexts
Research Interests:
this book is jointly edited with Andrew Stables. 2014, Sense Publishers (the Netherlands). Book series "Educational Futures: Rethinking theory and practice".
Research Interests:
The book is co-authored with Andrew (Andy) Stables. The book received a 2015 book award from the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia. Edusemiotics is a novel concept that addresses an emerging field of inquiry, educational... more
The book is co-authored with Andrew (Andy) Stables.
The book received a 2015 book award from the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia.
Edusemiotics is a novel concept that addresses an emerging field of inquiry, educational semiotics, as a philosophy of/for education. Using "sign" as a minimal unit of analysis, edusemiotics amalgamates philosophy, educational theory and semiotics. The book comprises 12 chapters that investigate the specifics of semiotic knowledge structures and processes, exploring current dilemmas and debates regarding self-identity, transformative and lifelong education, pedagogy and policy-making, and interrogating an important premise that still haunts contemporary educational philosophy: Cartesian dualism.
The book analyses the intellectual legacy of philosophers including John Dewey, Charles Sanders Peirce, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva, Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jaques Derrida, demonstrating the importance of their conceptualisations for developing educational semiotics. In defiance of Cartesian dualism and the fragmentation of knowledge that still inform education, it offers a unifying paradigm for education as edusemiotics and emphasise ethical education in compliance with the semiotic unity between knowledge and action.
Edusemiotics comprises chapters that contain accessible discussions in the context of educational philosophy and theory, crossing the borders between logic, art, communication and social science, together with a provocative theoretical critique. It will appeal to an academic readership in education, philosophy, cultural studies, while also being an inspiring resource for students and a foundational text in the schools of education world-wide..
The book received a 2015 book award from the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia.
Edusemiotics is a novel concept that addresses an emerging field of inquiry, educational semiotics, as a philosophy of/for education. Using "sign" as a minimal unit of analysis, edusemiotics amalgamates philosophy, educational theory and semiotics. The book comprises 12 chapters that investigate the specifics of semiotic knowledge structures and processes, exploring current dilemmas and debates regarding self-identity, transformative and lifelong education, pedagogy and policy-making, and interrogating an important premise that still haunts contemporary educational philosophy: Cartesian dualism.
The book analyses the intellectual legacy of philosophers including John Dewey, Charles Sanders Peirce, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva, Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jaques Derrida, demonstrating the importance of their conceptualisations for developing educational semiotics. In defiance of Cartesian dualism and the fragmentation of knowledge that still inform education, it offers a unifying paradigm for education as edusemiotics and emphasise ethical education in compliance with the semiotic unity between knowledge and action.
Edusemiotics comprises chapters that contain accessible discussions in the context of educational philosophy and theory, crossing the borders between logic, art, communication and social science, together with a provocative theoretical critique. It will appeal to an academic readership in education, philosophy, cultural studies, while also being an inspiring resource for students and a foundational text in the schools of education world-wide..
Research Interests: Semiotics, Pragmatism, Teacher Education, Philosophy of Education, Posthumanism, and 13 moreDewey, Human Development, Gilles Deleuze, Process Philosophy, Charles S. Peirce, Julia Kristeva, John Dewey, Knowledge Discovery with Diagrams, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Educational Theory, Peircean Semiotics, Educational Leadership and Management, and Edusemiotics
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Research Interests:
"Semetsky's new book offers a bracing account of Tarot semiotics in view of its deep significance for educational experience. Analyzing the symbolic language of Tarot images that express the intimations of the unconscious, she invites... more
"Semetsky's new book offers a bracing account of Tarot semiotics in view of its deep significance for educational experience. Analyzing the symbolic language of Tarot images that express the intimations of the unconscious, she invites readers to explore novel ways of learning about the nature of ourselves and the world we are situated in. Combining thorough research with an accessible style, this groundbreaking book is essential reading for present and future generations of practitioners, academics and students across disciplines". Pia Brînzeu, Professor of English Literature and Vice-Rector of the Universityof Timis¸oara, Romania; author of Corridors of Mirrors.
"A sequel to the author's Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic and Semiotics Education Experience, Semetsky's new book presents the Tarot sign-system as a school of ethical living. Bringing the philosophies of Peirce, Deleuze, Dewey, Whitehead and Gebser in a dialogue with the cutting-edge science of coordination dynamics, she grounds the art of Tarot in the logic of signs acting across nature, culture and human mind. Building on Noddings' "maternal factor", Semetsky demonstrates how the lessons embodied in Tarot symbolism recover the feminine value of relations and contribute to Self~Other integration. Such is the message of Tarot images. The Image is the Message". Igor Klyukanov, Professor of Communication, Eastern Washington University, USA; editor, Russian Journal of Communication; author of A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance. "Semetsky's amalgamation of the techniques of visual communication with the emerging field of edusemiotics is an absolute masterpiece in transdisciplinarity. By forging diverse strands of inquiry into an overall model of how images enhance learning, Semetsky's new book provokes us to take a fresh look at iconic information and is a required reading for everyone who is engaged with the art and science of visual semiotics at the intersection of nature and culture". Marcel Danesi, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada; editor-in-chief, Semiotica; author of The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice.
"Finally. An in-depth look at Tarot from within the field of semiotics, a perspective that had been inexplicably overlooked until now. As a language of exile from language, Tarot cards are silent words that became images. Here is a book that turns our thirst for symbols into a learning tool. The sign sings in Inna Semetsky's work."
"A sequel to the author's Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic and Semiotics Education Experience, Semetsky's new book presents the Tarot sign-system as a school of ethical living. Bringing the philosophies of Peirce, Deleuze, Dewey, Whitehead and Gebser in a dialogue with the cutting-edge science of coordination dynamics, she grounds the art of Tarot in the logic of signs acting across nature, culture and human mind. Building on Noddings' "maternal factor", Semetsky demonstrates how the lessons embodied in Tarot symbolism recover the feminine value of relations and contribute to Self~Other integration. Such is the message of Tarot images. The Image is the Message". Igor Klyukanov, Professor of Communication, Eastern Washington University, USA; editor, Russian Journal of Communication; author of A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance. "Semetsky's amalgamation of the techniques of visual communication with the emerging field of edusemiotics is an absolute masterpiece in transdisciplinarity. By forging diverse strands of inquiry into an overall model of how images enhance learning, Semetsky's new book provokes us to take a fresh look at iconic information and is a required reading for everyone who is engaged with the art and science of visual semiotics at the intersection of nature and culture". Marcel Danesi, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada; editor-in-chief, Semiotica; author of The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice.
"Finally. An in-depth look at Tarot from within the field of semiotics, a perspective that had been inexplicably overlooked until now. As a language of exile from language, Tarot cards are silent words that became images. Here is a book that turns our thirst for symbols into a learning tool. The sign sings in Inna Semetsky's work."
Research Interests: Semiotics, Philosophy, Communication, Information Theory, Philosophy of Education, and 20 moreComplexity Theory, Spirituality, Visual Semiotics, Symbolism, Gilles Deleuze, Process Philosophy, Jean Gebser, Feminism, Diagrammatic Reasoning, Magical Realism, Charles S. Peirce, Julia Kristeva, John Dewey, Knowledge Discovery with Diagrams, Tarot, Nel Noddings, Diagrams, New Materialism, Logic of Inquiry, and Edusemiotics
This wonderful, highly readable book breaks new ground in revealing commonalities between Deleuze's nomadic method of inquiry and the pragmatic method of John Dewey. It should be of great interest to both philosophers and educators. NEL... more
This wonderful, highly readable book breaks new ground in revealing commonalities between Deleuze's nomadic method of inquiry and the pragmatic method of John Dewey. It should be of great interest to both philosophers and educators. NEL NODDINGS, Stanford University, author of Happiness And Education. .
Few have placed the thinking of Dewey into effective dialogue with other forms of philosophy. This is particularly the case regarding contemporary European philosophy. Inna Semetsky's exciting new book bridges this gap for the first time by putting the brilliant poststructuralist work of Gilles Deleuze into critical and creative dialogue with that of Dewey. . The publication of this work announces the appearance of a remarkable line of thinking that scholars around the world will soon come to appreciate. JIM GARRISON, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, author of Dewey and Eros.
In this subtle and graceful study, Inna Semetsky brings together cultural and philosophical traditions long in need of connection. This is a significant and powerful work that is sure to invigorate discussions of educational theory for years to come. RONALD BOGUE, University of Georgia, author of Deleuze's Wake: Tribute and Tributaries.
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Few have placed the thinking of Dewey into effective dialogue with other forms of philosophy. This is particularly the case regarding contemporary European philosophy. Inna Semetsky's exciting new book bridges this gap for the first time by putting the brilliant poststructuralist work of Gilles Deleuze into critical and creative dialogue with that of Dewey. . The publication of this work announces the appearance of a remarkable line of thinking that scholars around the world will soon come to appreciate. JIM GARRISON, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, author of Dewey and Eros.
In this subtle and graceful study, Inna Semetsky brings together cultural and philosophical traditions long in need of connection. This is a significant and powerful work that is sure to invigorate discussions of educational theory for years to come. RONALD BOGUE, University of Georgia, author of Deleuze's Wake: Tribute and Tributaries.
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"This comprehensive and thoughtful volume is the first book to investigate, assess and apply a philosophy of education drawn from the great French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. It contains powerful and beautiful essays by some of the most... more
"This comprehensive and thoughtful volume is the first book to investigate, assess and apply a philosophy of education drawn from the great French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. It contains powerful and beautiful essays by some of the most influential Deleuze and Guattari commentators (the chapters by Bogue, Colebrook, May and Semetsky, and Genosko are particularly rewarding). The book provides very useful situations within the philosophy of education and some interesting experimental developments of Deleuze's work, notably in terms of new technologies and original methods. This is then an indispensable work on Deleuze and education. It covers the historical background and begins shaping debates for future research in this exciting and growing area. -- Professor James Williams, Professor of European Philosophy, School of Humanities, University of Dundee, author of Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and Guide and The Transversal Thought of Gilles Deleuze: Encounters and Influences
Deleuze always said that education was an erotic, voluptuous experience, perhaps the most important experience we can have. This collection captures that excitement and challenges what we think about how Deleuze should be taught and just as importantly what he taught. -- Ian Buchanan, Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University, author of Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus and founding editor of Deleuze Studies.
Here are thirteen encounters with Deleuze’s work that not only testify of the creativity and newness of Deleuze’s own writing but that, by taking these ideas into the field of education, raise new questions, signal new problems, and provide genuinely new ways of educational thinking and being. A rich source of inspiration for anyone who believes that education should not be about the reproduction of what already exists but should be committed to what is to become. -- Gert Biesta, University of Stirling, author of Beyond Learning: Democratic Education for a Human Future; co-editor of Derrida & Education."
Deleuze always said that education was an erotic, voluptuous experience, perhaps the most important experience we can have. This collection captures that excitement and challenges what we think about how Deleuze should be taught and just as importantly what he taught. -- Ian Buchanan, Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff University, author of Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus and founding editor of Deleuze Studies.
Here are thirteen encounters with Deleuze’s work that not only testify of the creativity and newness of Deleuze’s own writing but that, by taking these ideas into the field of education, raise new questions, signal new problems, and provide genuinely new ways of educational thinking and being. A rich source of inspiration for anyone who believes that education should not be about the reproduction of what already exists but should be committed to what is to become. -- Gert Biesta, University of Stirling, author of Beyond Learning: Democratic Education for a Human Future; co-editor of Derrida & Education."
Research Interests:
"Semiotics Education Experience" is a collection of fifteen essays edited by Inna Semetsky that explores semiotic approaches to education: semiotics of teaching, learning, and curriculum; educational theory and philosophies of Dewey,... more
"Semiotics Education Experience" is a collection of fifteen essays edited by Inna Semetsky that explores semiotic approaches to education: semiotics of teaching, learning, and curriculum; educational theory and philosophies of Dewey, Peirce, and Deleuze; education as political semiosis; logic and mathematics; visual signs; semiotics and complexity; semiotics and ethics of the self. This is a landmark collection of cross-disciplinary chapters by international scholars that mark out the appeal and significance of a semiotic approach to education. As Marcel Danesi reminds us in the Foreword, Vygotsky construed learning theory as the science of signs. Semetsky's collection should be widely read by students and scholars in education, philosophy, futures studies, cultural studies, and related disciplines. It deserves the widest dissemination. - Michael A Peters, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Editor, Educational Philosophy & Theory and Policy Futures in Education.
With her latest collection, Inna Semetsky has once again deftly organized a series of nuanced reflections on semiotics and pedagogical issues that touch upon vital philosophical, political, communicational, visual and interdisciplinary matters of enduring relevance. - Gary Genosko, Editor, The Semiotic Review of Books and Canada Research Chair, Lakehead University.""
With her latest collection, Inna Semetsky has once again deftly organized a series of nuanced reflections on semiotics and pedagogical issues that touch upon vital philosophical, political, communicational, visual and interdisciplinary matters of enduring relevance. - Gary Genosko, Editor, The Semiotic Review of Books and Canada Research Chair, Lakehead University.""
Research Interests:
""reviews: This groundbreaking book brings depth of meaning and intellectual scholarship to the field of human development while also lifting the human spirit by offering new dimensions of self-formation through the ancient medium of... more
""reviews:
This groundbreaking book brings depth of meaning and intellectual scholarship to the field of human development while also lifting the human spirit by offering new dimensions of self-formation through the ancient medium of Tarot. It should be of great interest to health and human service professionals. JEAN WATSON, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing; author of Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring and Caring Science as Sacred Science.
Semetsky's book is a timely antidote for our current crises in education. Drawing on her empirical research with Tarot and her deep knowledge of Jungian psychology, she offers an approach to education that stirs the depths of the Self as it deepens mind into soul. Her Tarot hermeneutic opens a path toward a revolutionary pedagogy that, in its commitment to the complexity, fullness and fluidity of human subjectivity, recovers the ethical and therapeutic dimensions of education. A bold book, a daring achievement, a spark of illumination! ROBERT D. ROMANYSHYN, Senior Core Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute; Affiliate Member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts; author of The Wounded Researcher: Research with Soul in Mind and Ways of the Heart: Essays toward an Imaginal Psychology.
This text elucidates the potential of Tarot well beyond its popular usage. It demonstrates how Tarot can become a pedagogical and counseling tool for enriching human experiences and the whole of culture with wisdom, integrity, meaning, and spirituality. A must to read! MARY K. GREER, author of Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation.
Bringing together popular and academic cultures, Inna Semetsky presents Tarot as a system of transformative hermeneutics for adult self-education and cultural pedagogy. Her research is a decisive and intelligent step ahead from the reductive stereotype of Tarot as fortune-telling. The fifteen life stories at the heart of the book exemplify the author's commitment to alternative modes of education and counseling that transcend individual, cultural or language barriers. Assembling a rich array of sources, from Hermeticism to Jungian depth psychology, the philosophies of Noddings, Buber, and Deleuze, and the science of self-organization, this book opens a new path to personal and social revitalization. It should be widely read across disciplinary divides by scholars, students, and professionals alike. PHILIP WEXLER, Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; author of Symbolic Movement: Critique and Spirituality in Sociology of Education and Holy Sparks: Social Theory, Education and Religion.""
This groundbreaking book brings depth of meaning and intellectual scholarship to the field of human development while also lifting the human spirit by offering new dimensions of self-formation through the ancient medium of Tarot. It should be of great interest to health and human service professionals. JEAN WATSON, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing; author of Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring and Caring Science as Sacred Science.
Semetsky's book is a timely antidote for our current crises in education. Drawing on her empirical research with Tarot and her deep knowledge of Jungian psychology, she offers an approach to education that stirs the depths of the Self as it deepens mind into soul. Her Tarot hermeneutic opens a path toward a revolutionary pedagogy that, in its commitment to the complexity, fullness and fluidity of human subjectivity, recovers the ethical and therapeutic dimensions of education. A bold book, a daring achievement, a spark of illumination! ROBERT D. ROMANYSHYN, Senior Core Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute; Affiliate Member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts; author of The Wounded Researcher: Research with Soul in Mind and Ways of the Heart: Essays toward an Imaginal Psychology.
This text elucidates the potential of Tarot well beyond its popular usage. It demonstrates how Tarot can become a pedagogical and counseling tool for enriching human experiences and the whole of culture with wisdom, integrity, meaning, and spirituality. A must to read! MARY K. GREER, author of Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation.
Bringing together popular and academic cultures, Inna Semetsky presents Tarot as a system of transformative hermeneutics for adult self-education and cultural pedagogy. Her research is a decisive and intelligent step ahead from the reductive stereotype of Tarot as fortune-telling. The fifteen life stories at the heart of the book exemplify the author's commitment to alternative modes of education and counseling that transcend individual, cultural or language barriers. Assembling a rich array of sources, from Hermeticism to Jungian depth psychology, the philosophies of Noddings, Buber, and Deleuze, and the science of self-organization, this book opens a new path to personal and social revitalization. It should be widely read across disciplinary divides by scholars, students, and professionals alike. PHILIP WEXLER, Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; author of Symbolic Movement: Critique and Spirituality in Sociology of Education and Holy Sparks: Social Theory, Education and Religion.""
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Self and Identity, Transformative Learning, Mental Health, Psychotherapy and Counseling, and 15 moreSpirituality, Word and Image Studies, Bricolage, Visual Semiotics, Hermeneutics, Jungian psychology, Hermeneutics and Narrative, Tarot, Western Esotericism, The Ethics of Care, Gnosis, Lifelong learning and adult education, Psychology of the Unconscious, Educational Theory and Practice, and Religious and Magical Practices
"Jung and Educational Theory" offers a new take on Jung's work, providing original, rich and informative material on his impact on educational research. * Explores Jung's writing from the standpoint of educational philosophy, assessing... more
"Jung and Educational Theory" offers a new take on Jung's work, providing original, rich and informative material on his impact on educational research.
* Explores Jung's writing from the standpoint of educational philosophy, assessing what it has to offer to theories of education
* Highlights Jung's emphasis on education's role in bringing up integrated and ethical human beings
* Offers the perspectives of a diversity of academics and practitioners, on topics ranging from the role of the unconscious in learning to the polytheistic classroom
* Both a valuable addition to the academic library and a significant new resource in the professional development of teachers
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* Explores Jung's writing from the standpoint of educational philosophy, assessing what it has to offer to theories of education
* Highlights Jung's emphasis on education's role in bringing up integrated and ethical human beings
* Offers the perspectives of a diversity of academics and practitioners, on topics ranging from the role of the unconscious in learning to the polytheistic classroom
* Both a valuable addition to the academic library and a significant new resource in the professional development of teachers
"
Research Interests:
This is my chapter titled "One, two, three... one: The edusemiotic self" (UNCORRECTED PROOF only)-- Ch 4 in JUNG, DELEUZE, AND THE PROBLEMATIC WHOLE (Edited by Roderick Main, Christian McMillan, and David Henderson). Review: ‘Jung,... more
This is my chapter titled "One, two, three... one: The edusemiotic self" (UNCORRECTED PROOF only)-- Ch 4 in JUNG, DELEUZE, AND THE PROBLEMATIC WHOLE (Edited by Roderick Main, Christian McMillan, and David Henderson).
Review: ‘Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole is essential reading for those interested in the flourishing area of Jung/Deleuze studies. From a Jungian perspective, Deleuze’s ideas allow an interpretation of Jung’s writing on the unus mundus that both critiques and revitalizes his work. For those who study Deleuze, this is added evidence of the potential for a psychology consonant with the ideas of schizoanalysis. Overall, this book marks an important contribution to the ongoing exploration of Jung’s influence on the philosopher of the rhizome.’
Barbara Jenkins, Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Wilfred Laurier University; author of Eros and Economy: Jung, Deleuze, Sexual Difference (Routledge, 2016)
Review: ‘Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole is essential reading for those interested in the flourishing area of Jung/Deleuze studies. From a Jungian perspective, Deleuze’s ideas allow an interpretation of Jung’s writing on the unus mundus that both critiques and revitalizes his work. For those who study Deleuze, this is added evidence of the potential for a psychology consonant with the ideas of schizoanalysis. Overall, this book marks an important contribution to the ongoing exploration of Jung’s influence on the philosopher of the rhizome.’
Barbara Jenkins, Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Wilfred Laurier University; author of Eros and Economy: Jung, Deleuze, Sexual Difference (Routledge, 2016)
Research Interests: Semiotics, Philosophy of Education, Subjectivities, Word and Image Studies, Jungian psychology, and 14 morePsychology of Unconscious, Gilles Deleuze, Meaning, Holistic Education, Tarot, Educational Theory, Relationality, Meaning Making, Hermeticism, Mathesis Universalis, Learning Theory, Signs and Symbols, Tarot Studies, and Edusemiotics
This essay is a modified and substantially updated version of the thesis presented earlier in my 2008 paper titled “The Transversal Communication, or: Reconciling Science and Magic” published in the journal Cybernetics and Human Knowing,... more
This essay is a modified and substantially updated version of the thesis presented earlier in my 2008 paper titled “The Transversal Communication, or: Reconciling Science and Magic” published in the journal Cybernetics and Human Knowing, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 33–48. See Semetsky (2008) in references, I acknowledge the original publication with gratitude.
The book:
*Includes contributions from some of the world's best-known researchers and scholars in the field, edited to be comprehensible for non-experts;
*Covers various perspectives employed to study math cognition, ranging from neuroscience to semiotics;
*Provides a truly interdisciplinary collection of work that will be of interest to an exceptionally wide variety of readers.
This is an anthology of contemporary studies from various disciplinary perspectives written by some of the world's most renowned experts in each of the areas of mathematics, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, semiotics, education, and more. Its purpose is not to add merely to the accumulation of studies, but to show that math cognition is best approached from various disciplinary angles, with the goal of broadening the general understanding of mathematical cognition through the different theoretical threads that can be woven into an overall understanding.
This volume will be of interest to mathematicians, cognitive scientists, educators of mathematics, philosophers of mathematics, semioticians, psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, and all other kinds of scholars who are interested in the nature, origin, and development of mathematical cognition.
The book:
*Includes contributions from some of the world's best-known researchers and scholars in the field, edited to be comprehensible for non-experts;
*Covers various perspectives employed to study math cognition, ranging from neuroscience to semiotics;
*Provides a truly interdisciplinary collection of work that will be of interest to an exceptionally wide variety of readers.
This is an anthology of contemporary studies from various disciplinary perspectives written by some of the world's most renowned experts in each of the areas of mathematics, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, semiotics, education, and more. Its purpose is not to add merely to the accumulation of studies, but to show that math cognition is best approached from various disciplinary angles, with the goal of broadening the general understanding of mathematical cognition through the different theoretical threads that can be woven into an overall understanding.
This volume will be of interest to mathematicians, cognitive scientists, educators of mathematics, philosophers of mathematics, semioticians, psychologists, linguists, anthropologists, and all other kinds of scholars who are interested in the nature, origin, and development of mathematical cognition.
Research Interests:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the... more
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(Robert Frost)
A symbolic approach to the unconscious is the crux of Jung’s depth psychology.
Symbols represent more than their literal and immediate meanings. They are
effective because they act as ‘transformers, their function being to convert libido
from a “lower” into a “higher” form’ (Jung 1952a, para. 344, emphasis in original).
In contrast to solely theoretical knowledge, it is the libidinal economy of the uncon-
scious that effectuates the participation of the human psyche in the symbolic
process of individuation. The unconscious is not reduced to its largely repressed
acquisitions during individual lifetimes but has a collective dimension in terms of
objective psyche – the collective unconscious populated by archetypes as formal
skeletal structures common to humankind. Archetypes, being ‘structural elements
of the psyche … possess a certain autonomy and specific energy which enables
them to attract, out of the conscious mind, those contents which are better suited to
themselves’ (Jung 1952a, para. 344), and are charged with psychic or spiritual
energy exceeding Freud’s sexual libido. In contrast, ‘psychic energy is a very fas-
tidious thing which insists on fulfilment of its own conditions’ (Jung 1943, para.
76). The collective unconscious is transpersonal thus surpassing the scope of tradi-
tional Freudian psychoanalytic conception and comprising ‘the psychic life of our
ancestors right back to the earliest beginnings. It is the matrix of all conscious
psychic occurrences’ (Jung 1929, para. 230). The vague and unconscious forms are
to be filled with informational content embedded within real, flesh-and-blood,
human experiences in the phenomenal world while being determined by the activ-
ity of the dynamical patterns manifesting as universal motifs in human actions. The
contents of the unconscious are paradoxical and ambiguous; they require interpre-
tation in order to be discovered. [...]...
This chapter focuses on the rarely taken path to individuation: creating the nar-
rative by reading and interpreting the Tarot images (Semetsky 2011, 2013). Jung
asserted that despite their ‘obscure origin … the set of pictures on Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation’ (Jung
1934/1954, para. 81) that represent ‘typical situations, places, ways and means’
(Jung 1934/1954, para. 80) in addition to manifesting as active personalities in
dreams.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(Robert Frost)
A symbolic approach to the unconscious is the crux of Jung’s depth psychology.
Symbols represent more than their literal and immediate meanings. They are
effective because they act as ‘transformers, their function being to convert libido
from a “lower” into a “higher” form’ (Jung 1952a, para. 344, emphasis in original).
In contrast to solely theoretical knowledge, it is the libidinal economy of the uncon-
scious that effectuates the participation of the human psyche in the symbolic
process of individuation. The unconscious is not reduced to its largely repressed
acquisitions during individual lifetimes but has a collective dimension in terms of
objective psyche – the collective unconscious populated by archetypes as formal
skeletal structures common to humankind. Archetypes, being ‘structural elements
of the psyche … possess a certain autonomy and specific energy which enables
them to attract, out of the conscious mind, those contents which are better suited to
themselves’ (Jung 1952a, para. 344), and are charged with psychic or spiritual
energy exceeding Freud’s sexual libido. In contrast, ‘psychic energy is a very fas-
tidious thing which insists on fulfilment of its own conditions’ (Jung 1943, para.
76). The collective unconscious is transpersonal thus surpassing the scope of tradi-
tional Freudian psychoanalytic conception and comprising ‘the psychic life of our
ancestors right back to the earliest beginnings. It is the matrix of all conscious
psychic occurrences’ (Jung 1929, para. 230). The vague and unconscious forms are
to be filled with informational content embedded within real, flesh-and-blood,
human experiences in the phenomenal world while being determined by the activ-
ity of the dynamical patterns manifesting as universal motifs in human actions. The
contents of the unconscious are paradoxical and ambiguous; they require interpre-
tation in order to be discovered. [...]...
This chapter focuses on the rarely taken path to individuation: creating the nar-
rative by reading and interpreting the Tarot images (Semetsky 2011, 2013). Jung
asserted that despite their ‘obscure origin … the set of pictures on Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation’ (Jung
1934/1954, para. 81) that represent ‘typical situations, places, ways and means’
(Jung 1934/1954, para. 80) in addition to manifesting as active personalities in
dreams.
Research Interests: Self and Identity, Mental Health, Narrative, Psychotherapy and Counseling, Subjectivities, and 10 moreWord and Image Studies, Feminist Philosophy, Jungian psychology, Intuition, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Self-Knowledge, Archetypes, Tarot, Gnosis, and Collective Unconscious and Synchronicity (carl Jung)
About this chapter: This chapter addresses the future form of pedagogy and explores a related educational theory. The chapter, first, reflects on exopedagogy as a form of post-humanist education. Second, the chapter positions exopedagogy... more
About this chapter:
This chapter addresses the future form of pedagogy and explores a related
educational theory. The chapter, first, reflects on exopedagogy as a form of
post-humanist education. Second, the chapter positions exopedagogy in
the context of Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical thought and his pedagogy of
the concept. Education as informed by Deleuze-Guattari’s
transformational pragmatics is “located” in experience, in culture, and in
life. As grounded in praxis, education necessarily includes an ethical
dimension. Such cultural pedagogy is oriented to the “becomings” of
human subjects and has an affective, erotic aspect. The feminine
qualities of care and love associated with the concept of Eros should not
only form the basis of education for the future but can make this rather
utopian future our present ethos in accord with the educational policy
agenda of the twenty-first century. Future educational leaders as “people
to come” are themselves produced via the creative forms of experiential
becomings, including “becoming-woman.” In conclusion, the chapter
asserts that people to come in education should be able to use
imagination to cross the limits of the present and tap into the future.
This chapter addresses the future form of pedagogy and explores a related
educational theory. The chapter, first, reflects on exopedagogy as a form of
post-humanist education. Second, the chapter positions exopedagogy in
the context of Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical thought and his pedagogy of
the concept. Education as informed by Deleuze-Guattari’s
transformational pragmatics is “located” in experience, in culture, and in
life. As grounded in praxis, education necessarily includes an ethical
dimension. Such cultural pedagogy is oriented to the “becomings” of
human subjects and has an affective, erotic aspect. The feminine
qualities of care and love associated with the concept of Eros should not
only form the basis of education for the future but can make this rather
utopian future our present ethos in accord with the educational policy
agenda of the twenty-first century. Future educational leaders as “people
to come” are themselves produced via the creative forms of experiential
becomings, including “becoming-woman.” In conclusion, the chapter
asserts that people to come in education should be able to use
imagination to cross the limits of the present and tap into the future.
Research Interests:
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The chapter is based on the earlier paper in the special issue of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory (EPAT). It addresses Julia Kristeva’s semanalysis and her notion of the subject in process in the context of lifelong... more
The chapter is based on the earlier paper in the special issue of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory (EPAT). It addresses Julia Kristeva’s semanalysis and her notion of the subject in process in the context of lifelong learning. In addition, Kristeva represents one contemporary French intellectual who implicitly inspired the creation, research and development of edusemiotics as a new conceptual framework in education. The Chapter addresses the role of presymbolic (or semiotic), affective, dimension in the process of production of subjectivity as learning from experience (including abject events) and considers ethical implications of such a stance.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Cultural Studies, Psychoanalysis, French Studies, Lifelong Learning, and 12 morePhilosophy of Education, Continental Philosophy, Abjection, Ethical Theory, Experiential Learning (Active Learning), Julia Kristeva, Educational Theory, Affect (Cultural Theory), Subjectivity, The Ethics of Care, Process Ontology, and Unconscious Processes
my chapter in EDUSEMIOTICS -- A HANDBOOK (I. Semetsky, Ed., 2017, SPRINGER). While human consciousness speaks in verbal language, the unconscious expresses itself in different regimes of signs including pictorial language: the language... more
my chapter in EDUSEMIOTICS -- A HANDBOOK (I. Semetsky, Ed., 2017, SPRINGER).
While human consciousness speaks in verbal language, the unconscious expresses itself in different regimes of signs including pictorial language: the language of images. This chapter addresses a specific theory-practice nexus centered on learning from the unconscious in the process of reading and interpreting the language of Tarot pictures. Combining Jung's archetypal psychology with Deleuze's philosophical method of transcendental empiricism and Husserl's phenomenology, the chapter presents the hermeneutics of Tarot as encompassing multiple lessons embedded in human experiences, situations and events. Tarot assists us in achieving an expanded and intensified scope of awareness that encompasses the level of existential meanings and values while also developing our intuitive abilities so that we learn to read, interpret and understand the language of the unconscious. Tarot edusemiotics relates to what Nel Noddings describes as a feminine or maternal factor: a mother is able to empathically 'read' and understand her, even preverbal, children.
While human consciousness speaks in verbal language, the unconscious expresses itself in different regimes of signs including pictorial language: the language of images. This chapter addresses a specific theory-practice nexus centered on learning from the unconscious in the process of reading and interpreting the language of Tarot pictures. Combining Jung's archetypal psychology with Deleuze's philosophical method of transcendental empiricism and Husserl's phenomenology, the chapter presents the hermeneutics of Tarot as encompassing multiple lessons embedded in human experiences, situations and events. Tarot assists us in achieving an expanded and intensified scope of awareness that encompasses the level of existential meanings and values while also developing our intuitive abilities so that we learn to read, interpret and understand the language of the unconscious. Tarot edusemiotics relates to what Nel Noddings describes as a feminine or maternal factor: a mother is able to empathically 'read' and understand her, even preverbal, children.
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my chapter in EDUSEMIOTICS --A HANDBOOK (I. Semetsky, Ed., 2017, Springer). Mind as embodied in nature—in contrast to the human mind and natural world being considered binary categories as separate Cartesian substances that oppose each... more
my chapter in EDUSEMIOTICS --A HANDBOOK (I. Semetsky, Ed., 2017, Springer). Mind as embodied in nature—in contrast to the human mind and natural world being considered binary categories as separate Cartesian substances that oppose each other—is a feature of edusemiotics. Edusemiotics posits the transformation of habits, in thought and action alike, at its core and aims to not only explore such a process theoretically but also enable it at the level of practice. This chapter draws from Charles S. Peirce's semiotics and John Dewey's educational philosophy to demonstrate that not only habit-taking but also habit-breaking are intrinsic to semiosis as the action of signs that cuts across mind–body dualism and allows us to become aware of our very habits as unconscious dispositions. Peirce's and Dewey's approach to learning from and by experience provides a theoretical foundation for this formalization. The chapter also bridges the discourses in humanities and sciences by bringing into the conversation the cutting-edge science of coordination dynamics with its corresponding philosophy of complementary pairs that has an uncanny affinity with semiotics as the science of signs. The chapter concludes by considering an edusemiotic approach to moral education.
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Introductory chapter in I. Semetsky (Ed.) EDUSEMIOTICS -- A HANDBOOK (2017, by Springer) This introductory chapter presents an overview of the defining characteristics and distinguishing features of educational semiotics. The chapter... more
Introductory chapter in I. Semetsky (Ed.) EDUSEMIOTICS -- A HANDBOOK (2017, by Springer) This introductory chapter presents an overview of the defining characteristics
and distinguishing features of educational semiotics. The chapter traces some marks
in the history of edusemiotics as a novel branch in philosophy of education that, albeit so
far very briefly, has already had an interdisciplinary impact and inspired the research
strands highlighted in this handbook. As a new theoretical foundation, edusemiotics
also represents a conceptual shift from the mainly psychological research that characterizes
the applied field known as semiotics in education. Edusemiotics is an integrative
conceptual framework that aims to overcome the persistent legacy of Cartesian dualism
both in theory and in practice. Edusemiotics centers on learning experiences comprising
a process of growth and evolution of signs in which both teachers and students can find
significance and meaning. While focusing on the signs of experience, edusemiotics has
strong onto/logical presuppositions that affect our conceptions of what constitutes this
very experience, subjectivity, and reason; thus having important implications for pedagogy
and policy.
and distinguishing features of educational semiotics. The chapter traces some marks
in the history of edusemiotics as a novel branch in philosophy of education that, albeit so
far very briefly, has already had an interdisciplinary impact and inspired the research
strands highlighted in this handbook. As a new theoretical foundation, edusemiotics
also represents a conceptual shift from the mainly psychological research that characterizes
the applied field known as semiotics in education. Edusemiotics is an integrative
conceptual framework that aims to overcome the persistent legacy of Cartesian dualism
both in theory and in practice. Edusemiotics centers on learning experiences comprising
a process of growth and evolution of signs in which both teachers and students can find
significance and meaning. While focusing on the signs of experience, edusemiotics has
strong onto/logical presuppositions that affect our conceptions of what constitutes this
very experience, subjectivity, and reason; thus having important implications for pedagogy
and policy.
Research Interests:
Introducation Edusemiotics is a novel direction in educational theory. New materialism is a novel direction in cultural theory. Both areas of research, while “located” in humanities, pay close attention to contemporary developments in... more
Introducation
Edusemiotics is a novel direction in educational
theory. New materialism is a novel direction in
cultural theory. Both areas of research, while
“located” in humanities, pay close attention to
contemporary developments in natural sciences
such as physics and biology. Both are strongly
anti-dualist. However, while new materialism
seems to revert to the philosophy of monism,
edusemiotics emphasizes the irreducibly triadic
structure of signs that ensures their dynamics
and enables their action and evolution. New mate-
rialism tends to draw from the continental tradi-
tion in philosophy (notably Deleuze), while
sources feeding into the latest developments in
edusemiotics are plenty, including American pragmatism. Still, both directions have much in
common and seem to exit in parallel – their
appearance in their respective fields (cultural studies and education) is nearly simultaneous. Being
anti-dualistic, they also deny the division between
ontology and epistemology. As for the dimension
of ethics, both demonstrate a relational, and partaking of feminist, bent. Both problematize all
binary divisions and rigid classifications in favor
of relations, maps, diagrams, and cartographies
Edusemiotics is a novel direction in educational
theory. New materialism is a novel direction in
cultural theory. Both areas of research, while
“located” in humanities, pay close attention to
contemporary developments in natural sciences
such as physics and biology. Both are strongly
anti-dualist. However, while new materialism
seems to revert to the philosophy of monism,
edusemiotics emphasizes the irreducibly triadic
structure of signs that ensures their dynamics
and enables their action and evolution. New mate-
rialism tends to draw from the continental tradi-
tion in philosophy (notably Deleuze), while
sources feeding into the latest developments in
edusemiotics are plenty, including American pragmatism. Still, both directions have much in
common and seem to exit in parallel – their
appearance in their respective fields (cultural studies and education) is nearly simultaneous. Being
anti-dualistic, they also deny the division between
ontology and epistemology. As for the dimension
of ethics, both demonstrate a relational, and partaking of feminist, bent. Both problematize all
binary divisions and rigid classifications in favor
of relations, maps, diagrams, and cartographies
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Semiotics, Philosophy Of Religion, Mental Health, Spirituality, Word and Image Studies, and 13 moreVisual Semiotics, Jungian psychology, Psychology of Unconscious, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Gilles Deleuze, Consciousness, Process Philosophy, Evolution of Consciousness, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Spirituality & Counselling & Psychotherapy, Tarot, Western Esotericism, and Signs and Symbols
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Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy has an enormous potential for educational theory, pedagogical practice, and educational research methods and policy. The questions asked by Deleuze (and Deleuze & Guattari in their combined works) address such... more
Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy has an enormous potential for educational theory, pedagogical practice, and
educational research methods and policy. The questions asked by Deleuze (and Deleuze & Guattari in their combined works) address such important for education areas as human subjectivity, experience, logic, language, ethics, creativity, and desire. Deleuze’s philosophy is pragmatic and has a surprising
affinity with Dewey’s educational philosophy with its attention to problematic situations and learning from experience. Deleuze’s is the pedagogy of concepts: practical, experimental pedagogy oriented to focusing on problems that defy univocal solutions but represent experimentation with the world and
ourselves leading to the creation of new meanings and values. Deleuze’s philosophy defies static “being” in lieu of dynamic “becoming” made possible by relations and connections. Rational thought is complemented by non-thought, or unthought and affective, dimension. Philosophical thinking demands the creation of the new. It has strong political implications, reflecting Deleuze’s ontology of the virtual,
and as such is future oriented, addressing the people yet to come. Education as inspired by Deleuze’s philosophy is untimely: it can transcend the physical present and allows us to envisage multiple opportunities in the open future.
educational research methods and policy. The questions asked by Deleuze (and Deleuze & Guattari in their combined works) address such important for education areas as human subjectivity, experience, logic, language, ethics, creativity, and desire. Deleuze’s philosophy is pragmatic and has a surprising
affinity with Dewey’s educational philosophy with its attention to problematic situations and learning from experience. Deleuze’s is the pedagogy of concepts: practical, experimental pedagogy oriented to focusing on problems that defy univocal solutions but represent experimentation with the world and
ourselves leading to the creation of new meanings and values. Deleuze’s philosophy defies static “being” in lieu of dynamic “becoming” made possible by relations and connections. Rational thought is complemented by non-thought, or unthought and affective, dimension. Philosophical thinking demands the creation of the new. It has strong political implications, reflecting Deleuze’s ontology of the virtual,
and as such is future oriented, addressing the people yet to come. Education as inspired by Deleuze’s philosophy is untimely: it can transcend the physical present and allows us to envisage multiple opportunities in the open future.
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This entry brings together the philosophies of Charles S. Peirce, John Dewey and Gilles Deleuze, crossing over the continental and pragmatic divide to demonstrate their analogous approach to the action of signs in the world. They... more
This entry brings together the philosophies of Charles S. Peirce, John Dewey and Gilles Deleuze, crossing over the continental and pragmatic divide to demonstrate their analogous approach to the action of signs in the world. They conceived of philosophy as proto-science, natural philosophy; yet embedded in cultural life and human experiences. This relation between nature and culture, surpassing the Cartesian schism, is a province of semiotics, the study of signs. Genuine signs have a triadic structure and conform to the a-signifying logic of the included middle. Further, the article discusses reality according to Sir Roger Penrose (who is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Oxford) positing it as having a semiotic structure where matter and spirit, body and mind are not dualistic categories but form an organic whole via relations and connections. Values which are traditionally inculcated in schools as abstract concepts acquire semiotic reality: values are signs situated in life; as such they can be interpreted and created anew in the process of experiential learning. These signs partake of universal Platonic Ideas at the level of the unconscious and virtual, rather than conscious, particular and actual. The task of bringing them to consciousness, to construct a semiotic bridge between actual and virtual, is challenging, yet it is achieved by edusemiotics. The implications for moral education are discussed.
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This chapter positions the hermeneutic practice of interpreting the meanings of Tarot images against the background of Carl Jung's analytical psychology and Gilles Deleuze's practical method of transcendental empiricism. The common... more
This chapter positions the hermeneutic practice of interpreting the meanings of Tarot images against the background of Carl Jung's analytical psychology and Gilles Deleuze's practical method of transcendental empiricism. The common approach to the dimension of the unconscious unites these three modalities. Becoming conscious of the unconscious is the task undertaken by all three practices. Tarot readings make visible the realm of invisible archetypes by virtue of their embodiment in the images of Major and Minor Arcana, thereby addressing the major postulate of Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophies. We literally see the multiple silent "voices" of the unconscious in the imagery of a specific Tarot layout. While the visible world is sensible, the invisible is uncanny but still intelligible. Tarot embodies Gnostic knowledge of deep meanings “hiding” in the Mundus Imaginalis – the imaginal world. Plato’s story in the Republic illustrates this concept: Diotima-the-Priestess teaches Socrates that it is a daimon or spirit (by the name Eros) that fluctuates between the two realms.
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This article was first presented at the Semiotic Society of America (SSA) annual conference in 1999 and has received the first Roberta Kevelson Memorial Award at the next year conference, in 2000 for the best paper presented by a... more
This article was first presented at the Semiotic Society of America (SSA) annual conference in 1999 and has received the first Roberta Kevelson Memorial Award at the next year conference, in 2000 for the best paper presented by a postgraduate student.
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Chapter 5 Learning from Experience. Dewey, Deleuze and "Becoming-ChildINNA SEMETSKY As LONG AGO as 1925 John Dewey, in his Experience and Nature, noted that to call someone spiritual does not mean to invoke a mysterious non-natural entity... more
Chapter 5 Learning from Experience. Dewey, Deleuze and "Becoming-ChildINNA SEMETSKY As LONG AGO as 1925 John Dewey, in his Experience and Nature, noted that to call someone spiritual does not mean to invoke a mysterious non-natural entity (1925/1958: 293). A particular
person who, according to Dewey, is endowed with a soul,
has in marked degrees qualities of sensitive, rich and coordinated participation
in all the situations of life. ... When the organization called soul
is free, moving and operative . . . it is spirit .. . Soul is form, spirit informs.
... Perhaps the words soul and spirit are so heavily laden with . . .
mythology . . . that they must be surrendered; it may be impossible to
recover for them in science and philosophy the realities designated in
idiomatic speech. But the realities are there, by whatever names they are
called. (Dewey 1925/1958: 294)
How should we, as educators, understand Dewey’s words in our
current postmodern, “inform-ation” age?
person who, according to Dewey, is endowed with a soul,
has in marked degrees qualities of sensitive, rich and coordinated participation
in all the situations of life. ... When the organization called soul
is free, moving and operative . . . it is spirit .. . Soul is form, spirit informs.
... Perhaps the words soul and spirit are so heavily laden with . . .
mythology . . . that they must be surrendered; it may be impossible to
recover for them in science and philosophy the realities designated in
idiomatic speech. But the realities are there, by whatever names they are
called. (Dewey 1925/1958: 294)
How should we, as educators, understand Dewey’s words in our
current postmodern, “inform-ation” age?
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This paper addresses a philosophical problem that refers to the human ability of knowing oneself and God as One. In the philosophical literature the positive answer to this problematic is usually delegated to the mystical realm; in the... more
This paper addresses a philosophical problem that refers to the human ability of knowing oneself and God as One. In the philosophical literature the positive answer to this problematic is usually delegated to the mystical realm; in the realm of concrete practical experiences the answer would have been negative as based on the apparent impossibility of connecting the human with the divine in real life. Such a connection is often posited as being beyond human understanding and considered mystical. This paper’s argument is that while this connection may seem to exceed human understanding, it does not have to remain as such. To construct the argument of how to overcome the great divide that separates the human from the divine, the paper will examine three sources. The first is Basarab Nicolescu’s ([2002a]; [2002b]; [2005]) program of transdisciplinarity. The second is the cutting edge of contemporary science called coordination dynamics that posits the natural world in terms of “The Complementary Nature” (Kelso and Engstrom [2006]). The third is a broad corpus of work by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze whose striking ontology of the virtual and method of transcendental empiricism will constitute the paper’s focus.
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Research Interests: Ethics, Intercultural Communication, Values Education, Lifelong Learning, Philosophy of Education, and 9 moreIntegrative Learning, Cultural Competence, Gilles Deleuze, Education Policy, Experiential Learning (Active Learning), Experiential Education, Creative Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Paideia
"Since time immemorial, people were searching for a universal language that would transcend cultural, religious, and language barriers. This chapter presents the system of Tarot images as both symbolic language, full of implicit... more
"Since time immemorial, people were searching for a universal language
that would transcend cultural, religious, and language barriers. This chapter presents
the system of Tarot images as both symbolic language, full of implicit meanings, and
as a pedagogical tool to complement the existing aids in moral/spiritual education.
The chapter is grounded in the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Nel
Noddings; and positions Tarot within “other strategies to be employed” (Crawford
and Rossiter) in spiritual education. Tarot pictures embody intellectual, moral, and
spiritual “lessons” derived from collective human experiences across times, places
and cultures. As a system of communication and interpretation, Tarot is oriented
toward the discovery of meanings for the multiplicity of experiences that would have
otherwise lacked meaning and significance. The meaning ofWisdom is embodied in
the image of “The High Priestess”. The process of interpretation contributes to our
development and learning from experience; and enriches our personal and collective
identities."
that would transcend cultural, religious, and language barriers. This chapter presents
the system of Tarot images as both symbolic language, full of implicit meanings, and
as a pedagogical tool to complement the existing aids in moral/spiritual education.
The chapter is grounded in the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Nel
Noddings; and positions Tarot within “other strategies to be employed” (Crawford
and Rossiter) in spiritual education. Tarot pictures embody intellectual, moral, and
spiritual “lessons” derived from collective human experiences across times, places
and cultures. As a system of communication and interpretation, Tarot is oriented
toward the discovery of meanings for the multiplicity of experiences that would have
otherwise lacked meaning and significance. The meaning ofWisdom is embodied in
the image of “The High Priestess”. The process of interpretation contributes to our
development and learning from experience; and enriches our personal and collective
identities."
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special issue of the journal Semiotica 2016 issue 212 "On Edusemiotics". Edited by I. Semetsky, A. Stables and S. Pesce.
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... As a mode of pictorial semiotics, Tarot cards70 laid out in a speci c reading, enable the shift of a subject-position from the infamous abstract view from nowhere to the contextual and concrete view from the here-and-now. A layout ...
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This paper uses the Tarot card The Magician as an index of non-mechanistic, mutualist, causality that enables the dynamics of self-organization. The philosophical framework is derived from the process metaphysics of Whitehead, Peirce,... more
This paper uses the Tarot card The Magician as an index of non-mechanistic, mutualist, causality that enables the dynamics of self-organization. The philosophical framework is derived from the process metaphysics of Whitehead, Peirce, Dewey, as well as French philosopher ...
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Abstract: From a semiotic viewpoint, Tarot has been described as a mere artifact with pictorial cards being signifiers in a symbolic sense. This paper reconceptualizes the process-structure of Tarot by placing it in a three-fold framework... more
Abstract: From a semiotic viewpoint, Tarot has been described as a mere artifact with pictorial cards being signifiers in a symbolic sense. This paper reconceptualizes the process-structure of Tarot by placing it in a three-fold framework that merges semiotics with systems-...
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"The paper presents education as a process of human development toward becoming our authentic Selves and posits the Tarot hermeneutic as one of the means of holistic, spiritual education. As a system of images and... more
"The paper presents education as a process of human development toward becoming our authentic Selves and posits the Tarot hermeneutic as one of the means of holistic, spiritual education. As a system of images and symbols, Tarot encompasses the three I’s represented by intuition, insight and imagination in contrast to the three R’s of traditional formal schooling. If teachers want to foster intuitive abilities in their students, they need to first develop this capacity in themselves using the available cultural practice of Tarot. Through Tarot symbolism we can become aware of the deep meanings of human experiences that may be hiding in the unconscious at the soul level. The informal ‘school of life’ embodied in images unveils the dimension of inner knowledge or gnosis that exceeds the factual knowledge of the external world but reaches toward the Imaginal world due to intuitive mode of perception."
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This article brings together CS Peirce's semiotics, Jung's analytical psy-chology, and the ancient system of Tarot. When interpreted, Tarot images create a narrative that represents a process of individuation based on the... more
This article brings together CS Peirce's semiotics, Jung's analytical psy-chology, and the ancient system of Tarot. When interpreted, Tarot images create a narrative that represents a process of individuation based on the integration of the unconscious into consciousness. The ...
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This paper proposes to examine a tradition of practical mysticism mostly associated with Plotinus and Neo-Platonic thought as a blend of Plato's and Aristotle's teachings and the form of knowledge that impels practical virtuous... more
This paper proposes to examine a tradition of practical mysticism mostly associated with Plotinus and Neo-Platonic thought as a blend of Plato's and Aristotle's teachings and the form of knowledge that impels practical virtuous action and includes an intense self-knowing coupled with ...
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This essay addresses Gilles Deleuze's “pedagogy of the concept” as grounded in the triadic relation between percepts, affects, and concepts. Philosophical thinking based on the “logic of affects” necessarily leads to the creation... more
This essay addresses Gilles Deleuze's “pedagogy of the concept” as grounded in the triadic relation between percepts, affects, and concepts. Philosophical thinking based on the “logic of affects” necessarily leads to the creation of novel concepts in/for experience. Still, new ...
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ABSTRACT. This article is part of a larger project exploring the continuity between two philosophical positions that of French poststructuralist Gilles Deleuze (19251995) and John Dewey that appear at first sight to be separated by... more
ABSTRACT. This article is part of a larger project exploring the continuity between two philosophical positions that of French poststructuralist Gilles Deleuze (19251995) and John Dewey that appear at first sight to be separated by time, place and culture. The scope of the present ...
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This article begins by revisiting the current model of values education (moral education) which has recently been set up in Australian schools. This article problematizes the pedagogical model of teaching values in the direct transmission... more
This article begins by revisiting the current model of values education (moral education) which has recently been set up in Australian schools. This article problematizes the pedagogical model of teaching values in the direct transmission mode from the perspective of the continuity of experience as central to the philosophies of John Dewey and Charles S. Peirce. In this context experience is to be understood as a collective (going beyond the realm of private) and continuous (importantly, non-atomistic) space. As such, human behavior and decision-making are embedded in a broad range of possibilities that may become actualities in the process of responding intelligently to what is perceived in the environment. This article also brings into the conversation some contemporary discourse in bioethics and neuroscience that appears to have an uncanny affinity to Peirce's and Dewey's much earlier conceptualizations. Human intelligence proper arises in the interactions between mind, body, and the environing world: we learn from experience that necessarily has a value-element embedded in this triadic matrix.
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There are two focal points to this article. One is to address Julia Kristeva’s theoretical corpus in the context of philosophy of education. Kristeva’s notion of subject in process problematises education with its habitual emphasis on... more
There are two focal points to this article. One is to address Julia Kristeva’s theoretical corpus in the context of philosophy of education. Kristeva’s notion of subject in process problematises education with its habitual emphasis on ‘product’. Another is to consider her impact from the perspective of edusemiotics. Edusemiotics is a new direction in educational philosophy and theory, and Kristeva represents one contemporary French intellectual who implicitly inspired the creation, research and development of edusemiotics. The article will briefly address the distinguished features of edusemiotics, the central of which is process ontology in contrast to the old Cartesian paradigm of substance dualism that continues to haunt education. The article will also address the role of presymbolic (or semiotic) dimension in the process of self-formation and, as a follow up, reformulate the concept of lifelong education and teacher training.
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This paper addresses the unconscious dimension as articulated in Carl Jung's depth psychology and in Gilles Deleuze's philosophy. Jung's theory of the archetypes and Deleuze's pedagogy of the concept are two complementary... more
This paper addresses the unconscious dimension as articulated in Carl Jung's depth psychology and in Gilles Deleuze's philosophy. Jung's theory of the archetypes and Deleuze's pedagogy of the concept are two complementary resources that posit ...
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Semiotics is the study of signs, especially as regards their action, usage, communication and signification (or meaning). The word semiotics derives from the ancient Greek words for sign and signal. Signs can be human and non-human,... more
Semiotics is the study of signs, especially as regards their action, usage, communication and signification (or meaning). The word semiotics derives from the ancient Greek words for sign and signal. Signs can be human and non-human, linguistic and extralinguistic, natural and invented. In ancient times semiotics was a specific branch of medicine, with signs describing symptoms. Later semiotics became a branch of philosophy, with signs describing the nature of things. Semiotics exceeds the science of linguistics, the latter limited to verbal signs of words and sentences, and encompasses both natural and invented signs, such as culturally specific artifacts. Human beings are sign-users, and semiotics can also serve as a meta-language, the function of which is to describe human action. Semiotics both constructs models, or sign-systems, and considers them to be its own object of research. Edusemiotics – educational semiotics – is a recently developed direction in educational theory that takes semiotics as its foundational philosophy and explores the philosophical specifics of semiotics in educational contexts. As a novel theoretical field of inquiry, it is complemented by research known under the banner “semiotics in education” and which is largely an applied enterprise. In this respect edusemiotics is a new conceptual framework used in both theoretical and empirical studies. Edusemiotics has also been given the status of being a new sub-branch of theoretical semiotics, alongside biosemiotics or ecosemiotics, and it was launched as such at the 12th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) held in September 2014 at the New Bulgarian University (Sofia, Bulgaria) that included participants from Europe, Australia, and North and South America.
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Since time immemorial, humankind has searched for a universal language in the quest for the perfect means of communication that would transcend prevailing cultural, religious, and language barriers. The hero of a poetic tale (Coelho... more
Since time immemorial, humankind has searched for a universal language in the quest for the perfect means of communication that would transcend prevailing cultural, religious, and language barriers. The hero of a poetic tale (Coelho 1993), in his quest for the language ...
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The term edusemiotics indicates a novel interdisciplinary field of inquiry at the intersection of educational philosophy, learning theory, and a science of signs. The article explores the semiotics of Tarot images as a mode of informal... more
The term edusemiotics indicates a novel interdisciplinary field of inquiry at the intersection of educational philosophy, learning theory, and a science of signs. The article explores the semiotics of Tarot images as a mode of informal learning from experiences that are symbolically represented in the language of images as a feminine mode of expression. As embedded in the dynamics of semiosis, the process of reading and interpreting Tarot signs establishes a connection between self and other, subject and object, matter and mind, thus overcoming Cartesian dualism in practice. The implications are profound as Tarot edusemiotics contributes to our moral and intellectual growth.
Research Interests: Semiotics, Philosophy, Feminist Theory, Philosophy of Education, Psychotherapy and Counseling, and 13 moreSpirituality, Word and Image Studies, Feminist Philosophy, Visual Semiotics, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Linguistics, Carl G. Jung, Depth Psychology, Tarot, Educational Theory, Charles S Peirce, Semiotica, and Edusemiotics
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Page 1. The end of a semiotic fallacy INNA R. SEMETSKY '... More and more scientists come out of the closet as mystics' (Matthew Fox 1990: 19). '.. Process exists even in the so-called "static... more
Page 1. The end of a semiotic fallacy INNA R. SEMETSKY '... More and more scientists come out of the closet as mystics' (Matthew Fox 1990: 19). '.. Process exists even in the so-called "static objects", such as a picture'. (Bohm and Biederman 1999: 88) ...
Research Interests: Semiotics, Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Communication, and 15 moreMysticism, Mental Representation and Content, Linguistics, Evolution of Consciousness, Tarot, Peircean Semiotics, Subjectivity, Semiotica, Event, Systems, Symbol, Self Organization, Social relations, Anti Dualism, and Symbole
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... definition, Secondness contains one and two, so there is Firstness in Secondness, and there are three in the ... The abductive suggestion comes to us as a flash. ... a stroke of genius, Peirce appears to quote Shakespeare referring... more
... definition, Secondness contains one and two, so there is Firstness in Secondness, and there are three in the ... The abductive suggestion comes to us as a flash. ... a stroke of genius, Peirce appears to quote Shakespeare referring to the ontological possibilities for abduction as airy ...
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This paper is a sequel to my earlier article titled Symbolism of the Tower as Abjection, which was published in Parallax (Leeds University, UK) in 2000. The paper interpreted the symbolism inscribed in the imagery of The Tower card in... more
This paper is a sequel to my earlier article titled Symbolism of the Tower as Abjection, which was published in Parallax (Leeds University, UK) in 2000. The paper interpreted the symbolism inscribed in the imagery of The Tower card in a Tarot deck in terms of Julia Kristeva's ...
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The paper revisits the learning paradox first posited by Socrates in his famous dialogue with Meno. The paradox of new knowledge has been steadily attracting attention of educational researchers (see, e.g., Bereiter 1985; Petrie 1991;... more
The paper revisits the learning paradox first posited by Socrates in his famous dialogue with Meno. The paradox of new knowledge has been steadily attracting attention of educational researchers (see, e.g., Bereiter 1985; Petrie 1991; Prawat 1999). My paper briefly examines Kierkegaard's classical solution in terms of the necessity of the decisive moment arguing that, contrary to Kierkegaard, there is no miraculous knowledge. The paper justifies this assertion by suggesting a two-fold approach towards re-solving the Socratic paradox: first, using Charles Sanders Peirce's triadic scheme and his semiotics that incorporates the logical category of abduction; and second, by extending his notion of diagrammatic reasoning and suggesting a model for a cognitive structure constructed on the complex (Gauss) plane. Peirce pointed out that his categories of Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness are the "conceptions of complexity" (Peirce CP 1. 526). The paper concludes by asserting that the problem of new knowledge debated in antiquity by Socrates and Meno can be solved by adopting the geometry of complexity as a representation of the logic of the included middle, constituting the core of the triadic semiotics.
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This animation (discovered on YouTube) is titled Edusemiotics: Living and learning with signs: https://youtu.be/r5qwKYRkT8w The video presents some of the important aspects of edusemiotics as a novel educational philosophy. While... more
This animation (discovered on YouTube) is titled Edusemiotics: Living and learning with signs: https://youtu.be/r5qwKYRkT8w
The video presents some of the important aspects of edusemiotics as a novel educational philosophy. While otherwise very insightful, this 4-min. film understandably could not address all features of edusemiotics. The narrator highlights the constructivist aspect present in edusemiotics while leaving behind its complementary, expressionist, aspect. As a creator of, and researcher in, edusemiotics, I am very much concerned with how this very recent direction is understood and subsequently implemented in educational research and practice. In this paper presentation I will be using some photographs of real events and some printed images from popular culture. Images express themselves in the extra-linguistic mode of “silent discourse, which is the language of signs”(Deleuze, 2003: 170-171). Learning (and teaching) the language of signs and images becomes one of the objectives of edusemiotics. Reading and interpreting the meanings of images blend logic with imagination and contribute to the construction of narrative knowledge that belongs to the feminine ways of knowing (e.g., Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Greene, 2000; Witherell & Noddings, 1991) thus transforming individual and collective consciousness (cf. Peters & Freeman-Moir, 2006). This process brings into being Deleuze’s notions of becoming-other and becoming-woman, which carry strong social and political implications. The arguments presented in the paper strongly relate to the topic of the conference (focused on images and “becoming”) and – by using the often-overlooked “expressionism” of images – bring to knowledge new information. Images have a great expressive power — they are legible.
Selected references:
Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind: New York: Basic Books.
Deleuze, G. (2003). Desert Islands and Other Texts (1953-1974). New York: Semiotext(e).
Greene, M. (2000). Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Education.
Peters, M. A., & Freeman-Moir, J. (Eds.). (2006). Edutopias: New Utopian Thinking in Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Witherell, C., & Noddings, N. (Eds.). (1991). Stories Lives Tell: Narrative and Dialogue in Education. New York & London: Teachers College Press.
The video presents some of the important aspects of edusemiotics as a novel educational philosophy. While otherwise very insightful, this 4-min. film understandably could not address all features of edusemiotics. The narrator highlights the constructivist aspect present in edusemiotics while leaving behind its complementary, expressionist, aspect. As a creator of, and researcher in, edusemiotics, I am very much concerned with how this very recent direction is understood and subsequently implemented in educational research and practice. In this paper presentation I will be using some photographs of real events and some printed images from popular culture. Images express themselves in the extra-linguistic mode of “silent discourse, which is the language of signs”(Deleuze, 2003: 170-171). Learning (and teaching) the language of signs and images becomes one of the objectives of edusemiotics. Reading and interpreting the meanings of images blend logic with imagination and contribute to the construction of narrative knowledge that belongs to the feminine ways of knowing (e.g., Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Greene, 2000; Witherell & Noddings, 1991) thus transforming individual and collective consciousness (cf. Peters & Freeman-Moir, 2006). This process brings into being Deleuze’s notions of becoming-other and becoming-woman, which carry strong social and political implications. The arguments presented in the paper strongly relate to the topic of the conference (focused on images and “becoming”) and – by using the often-overlooked “expressionism” of images – bring to knowledge new information. Images have a great expressive power — they are legible.
Selected references:
Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986). Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind: New York: Basic Books.
Deleuze, G. (2003). Desert Islands and Other Texts (1953-1974). New York: Semiotext(e).
Greene, M. (2000). Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Education.
Peters, M. A., & Freeman-Moir, J. (Eds.). (2006). Edutopias: New Utopian Thinking in Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Witherell, C., & Noddings, N. (Eds.). (1991). Stories Lives Tell: Narrative and Dialogue in Education. New York & London: Teachers College Press.
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Jung and Deleuze afforded a special significance to signs, symbols, symptoms and images (even as Jung’s definitions of signs and symbols appear to be reversed). While Deleuze-Guattarian schizoanalysis critiques both Freud and Jung,... more
Jung and Deleuze afforded a special significance to signs, symbols, symptoms and images (even as Jung’s definitions of signs and symbols appear to be reversed). While Deleuze-Guattarian schizoanalysis critiques both Freud and Jung, Deleuze’s own works are permeated with subtle Jungian inflections, especially regarding the unconscious or “unthought” dimension of experience. The crux of Jung’s depth psychology is the existence of the collective unconscious (objective psyche) structured by archetypal patterns manifesting in the form of typical habits. In a number of works, Jung referred to the axiom of Maria Prophetissa, a 3rd-century alchemist, as a metaphor for the process of individuation. Central part of this paper: The paper positions this axiom in the context of Deleuze’s paradoxical logic of multiplicities (problematic Ideas) central to his philosophy of transcendental empiricism. When phenomena betray their representation by clear and distinct ideas, but flash their veiled meanings as signs – they need to be explicated and “read” so that problematic encounters can make sense. Signs are formal structures of relations that function on the basis of the included “third” – the elusive tertium quid. The reading of signs is an experiment that involves experiential learning (self-education or apprenticeship) and, ultimately, self-knowledge in the form of deep gnosis. Only as such can we become in-dividual, “whole” selves. The paper also addresses ethics as the integration of the Jungian Shadow archetype that may manifest in events of which, according to Deleuze, we must become worthy. To conclude, the paper presents an example of the transformative, healing (“making whole”) practice that demonstrates the actualisation of the virtual archetypes via their “dramatization” in the esoteric yet “real characters” of a neutral language envisaged by Pauli, Jung’s collaborator on the concept of synchronicity. Deleuze’s call to retrieve and read the structures immanent in the depth of the psyche is thereby answered: we self-transcend by becoming-other.
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Edusemiotics is a new direction in educational theory that takes semiotics as its foundational philosophy and explores its philosophical specifics in educational contexts. The minimal descriptive unit in (edu)semiotics is a sign as a... more
Edusemiotics is a new direction in educational theory that takes semiotics as its foundational philosophy and explores its philosophical specifics in educational contexts. The minimal descriptive unit in (edu)semiotics is a sign as a tri-relative entity engaged in the dynamics of transformations, translations, and growth. Edusemiotics considers “relation” to be ontologically basic and affirms the feminine emphasis on relations and relatedness. Sign-process crosses over the human mind, culture, and nature alike. Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy is an ongoing inspiration for the creation or invention of edusemiotics as a novel concept. Contrary to Saussure’s semiology, which addresses largely linguistic signs, edusemiotics investigates multiple regimes of signs, verbal and non-verbal, natural and invented, and considers human beings to also be signs situated in the larger non-human, yet semiotic, world. The dynamics of signs is a process of becoming, with signs always already becoming-other.
At the outset the paper will address the logic of signs in terms of what Deleuze called intensive multiplicities that function on the basis of the conjunction “and”. The dynamical structure of signs forms a rhizomatic network grounded in Deleuze’s new image of thought. Still, the theory of signs remains meaningless without the corresponding practice as an apprenticeship in signs or continual learning. Learning becomes a creative process oriented not just to factual knowledge but to new modes of existence and involves our becoming aware of unconscious ideas because signs often just portend as subtle sensations and need to be interpreted or evaluated amidst the problematic instances that abound in affective encounters, in life – which thus becomes our informal, experiential and experimental, “school”.
Secondly the paper presents the pedagogy of concepts, stressing that the current emphasis of formal schooling on ready-made answers rather than on the production of “Sens” is counterproductive to edusemiotics and to students’ growth. Significantly, edusemiotics presupposes teachers’ growth too: subjectivities of both are to be produced! As the transformation of signs involves an ethical aspect, the pedagogy of values becomes imperative – however such pedagogy strongly contradicts the persistent, even if implicit, model of moral education that focuses on the direct inculcation of values. The paper examines some challenges faced by edusemiotics, one of which is the task of the transformation of habits not just as a theoretical slogan but as a real-life necessity, one demanding that Deleuze’s “people to come” actually “become”.
As a conclusion, the paper will discuss some aspects of the new materialism that parallels edusemiotics in many respects, even as these two directions appear to spring to life independently and without any prior awareness of each other. Importantly, both areas of research revisit the latest developments in science and posit the significance of subjectivity as posthuman. Edusemiotics is incomplete without posthuman intelligence, which in turn is a function of learning and developing semiotic competence as its own integral part. For Deleuze, philosophers, writers and artists are semioticians and symptomatologists who can read and interpret signs that function as the symptoms of life. To this list we should now add educators as edusemioticians.
At the outset the paper will address the logic of signs in terms of what Deleuze called intensive multiplicities that function on the basis of the conjunction “and”. The dynamical structure of signs forms a rhizomatic network grounded in Deleuze’s new image of thought. Still, the theory of signs remains meaningless without the corresponding practice as an apprenticeship in signs or continual learning. Learning becomes a creative process oriented not just to factual knowledge but to new modes of existence and involves our becoming aware of unconscious ideas because signs often just portend as subtle sensations and need to be interpreted or evaluated amidst the problematic instances that abound in affective encounters, in life – which thus becomes our informal, experiential and experimental, “school”.
Secondly the paper presents the pedagogy of concepts, stressing that the current emphasis of formal schooling on ready-made answers rather than on the production of “Sens” is counterproductive to edusemiotics and to students’ growth. Significantly, edusemiotics presupposes teachers’ growth too: subjectivities of both are to be produced! As the transformation of signs involves an ethical aspect, the pedagogy of values becomes imperative – however such pedagogy strongly contradicts the persistent, even if implicit, model of moral education that focuses on the direct inculcation of values. The paper examines some challenges faced by edusemiotics, one of which is the task of the transformation of habits not just as a theoretical slogan but as a real-life necessity, one demanding that Deleuze’s “people to come” actually “become”.
As a conclusion, the paper will discuss some aspects of the new materialism that parallels edusemiotics in many respects, even as these two directions appear to spring to life independently and without any prior awareness of each other. Importantly, both areas of research revisit the latest developments in science and posit the significance of subjectivity as posthuman. Edusemiotics is incomplete without posthuman intelligence, which in turn is a function of learning and developing semiotic competence as its own integral part. For Deleuze, philosophers, writers and artists are semioticians and symptomatologists who can read and interpret signs that function as the symptoms of life. To this list we should now add educators as edusemioticians.
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paper presented at AARE conference 2016, Melbourne
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Educational theory today is often haunted by two ghosts: Cartesian substance dualism and analytic philosophy of language grounded in direct representation. While Pragmatic and Poststructuralist philosophies provide important alternatives,... more
Educational theory today is often haunted by two ghosts: Cartesian substance dualism and analytic philosophy of language grounded in direct representation. While Pragmatic and Poststructuralist philosophies provide important alternatives, education rarely questions its own metaphysical assumptions (if any) and does not delve deeper into ontology or logic preferring to stay at the level of social practice. Semiotics however posits signs (following Charles S. Peirce) as crossing over nature, culture, and the human mind. As a minimal unit of description, a sign is a relational (not substantial) entity, which continuously engages with its own other thus defying perceived binary oppositions including that of self and other. By virtue of becoming-other, signs evolve and grow. People are signs among signs and are sign-users. This paper explores a new direction in the philosophy of education, namely: edusemiotics (educational semiotics) which is characterised by several distinctive features. The dynamics of signs engaged in relations reflects process-ontology coupled with the logic of included middle that defies the principle of non-contradiction and involves interpretation(s) as the creation of meaning(s). On the basis of the process-structure of signs, the paper will address some important implications of edusemiotics for practice and policy
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Semiotics includes extra-linguistic modalities, and pictures can be "read" and narrated as "texts". My paper will apply Kristeva' s semanalysis to the unorthodox pictorial "text" comprising Tarot images and symbols. The paper will... more
Semiotics includes extra-linguistic modalities, and pictures can be "read" and narrated as "texts". My paper will apply Kristeva' s semanalysis to the unorthodox pictorial "text" comprising Tarot images and symbols. The paper will demonstrate how Kristeva's "subject in process" is constituted via reading and interpreting Tarot images and as informed (contra Freudian psychoanalysis) by Jung's analytical psychology and his theory of archetypes.
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The paper starts by revisiting the ancient learning paradox articulated in the famous Meno dialogue and also known as the paradox of analysis in modern philosophy. The central argument of the paper is that it is only the presence of... more
The paper starts by revisiting the ancient learning paradox articulated in the famous Meno dialogue and also known as the paradox of analysis in modern philosophy. The central argument of the paper is that it is only the presence of paradoxes which can create a new knowledge. What “common sense” presents as a paradox (if not plain and simple nonsense as its own binary opposite) is in fact part and parcel of genuine signs having a triadic structure and functioning in accordance with the logic of the included middle (the elusive tertium non datur). The argument is supported by reference to two philosophical sourcses, Charles S. Peirce and Gilles Deleuze. Their approaches to logic (semiotics) are compared and posited as analogous. The ineliminable role of paradoxes in producing sense (or meaning) is affirmed. The practical implications of this theoretical position are offered for discussion.
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Communicology is described as the critical study of discourse and practice. It refers to the expressive body as mediated by the perception of cultural signs and codes. Communicology stresses the (self-) reflective role of human... more
Communicology is described as the critical study of discourse and practice. It refers to the expressive body as mediated by the perception of cultural signs and codes. Communicology stresses the (self-) reflective role of human consciousness and the centrality of communication. The embodiment of consciousness is the important premise of communicology.
Using this premise as the point of departure, the paper posits the non-verbal means of communication as the important complement to human language(s) and the equally important role of the unconscious dimension of experience. While conscious thought speaks directly and discursively in the language of propositions, the unconscious expresses itself via multiple habits of mind and actions alike. Still is there a means to read the language of the unconscious and to access the deep level of (non-discursive) habits so that establish a dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious, between body and mind—and not only individually but at the collective level of culture?
The paper presents a specific method of becoming aware of the unconscious habits by means of hermeneutics making the unconscious conscious
The field of communication phenomena as part of the typology of cultures calls for the identification of specific semiotic systems representing their “languages”. In this respect culture is seen as a set of texts described by collective memory (Lotman 1990). The papers addresses three sources: Yuri Lotman’s semiotics of culture as the “universe of the mind”; Charles S. Peirce triadic semiotics and his category of Thirdness as habit-taking; and the ancient practice of “reading” Tarot pictures.
Semiotics considers pictures, as well as stories consisting of pictures, as belonging to the category of signs; and “pictures have a continuous structure [that] induces the reader to read the picture as if it were a written text” (Posner 1989: 276).
Tarot images function as polysemic representations of collective memory (the collective unconscious, in Carl Jung’s parlance), which is organized into a semiotic system constituting a pictorial “text” that as such can be read and interpreted. It is very embodiment of the deepest, yet unconscious habits that allows bringing them to consciousness via the communicative link, which establishes a semiotic bridge between discursive and non-discursive formations.
At the ontological level, an analogous semiotic link is established between culture and nature with the layout of pictures functioning as the included third (the elusive tertium of Hermetic philosophy) representing a culture-nature nexus in accordance with Peirce’s triadic structure of genuine signs, which are both the sources (and destinations) of information. It is due to the included third of the embodied practice of reading and interpretation that human consciousness can not only reflect back on itself but also realize itself as the constitutive part-of-the-whole non-human universe comprising, nonetheless, “the universe of the mind”.
Using this premise as the point of departure, the paper posits the non-verbal means of communication as the important complement to human language(s) and the equally important role of the unconscious dimension of experience. While conscious thought speaks directly and discursively in the language of propositions, the unconscious expresses itself via multiple habits of mind and actions alike. Still is there a means to read the language of the unconscious and to access the deep level of (non-discursive) habits so that establish a dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious, between body and mind—and not only individually but at the collective level of culture?
The paper presents a specific method of becoming aware of the unconscious habits by means of hermeneutics making the unconscious conscious
The field of communication phenomena as part of the typology of cultures calls for the identification of specific semiotic systems representing their “languages”. In this respect culture is seen as a set of texts described by collective memory (Lotman 1990). The papers addresses three sources: Yuri Lotman’s semiotics of culture as the “universe of the mind”; Charles S. Peirce triadic semiotics and his category of Thirdness as habit-taking; and the ancient practice of “reading” Tarot pictures.
Semiotics considers pictures, as well as stories consisting of pictures, as belonging to the category of signs; and “pictures have a continuous structure [that] induces the reader to read the picture as if it were a written text” (Posner 1989: 276).
Tarot images function as polysemic representations of collective memory (the collective unconscious, in Carl Jung’s parlance), which is organized into a semiotic system constituting a pictorial “text” that as such can be read and interpreted. It is very embodiment of the deepest, yet unconscious habits that allows bringing them to consciousness via the communicative link, which establishes a semiotic bridge between discursive and non-discursive formations.
At the ontological level, an analogous semiotic link is established between culture and nature with the layout of pictures functioning as the included third (the elusive tertium of Hermetic philosophy) representing a culture-nature nexus in accordance with Peirce’s triadic structure of genuine signs, which are both the sources (and destinations) of information. It is due to the included third of the embodied practice of reading and interpretation that human consciousness can not only reflect back on itself but also realize itself as the constitutive part-of-the-whole non-human universe comprising, nonetheless, “the universe of the mind”.
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Contemporary education continues to suffer from the ghosts of the past -- Cartesian dualism and scientific method of modernity – that affect its theoretical foundations and research methods. Edusemiotics creates a new direction in... more
Contemporary education continues to suffer from the ghosts of the past -- Cartesian dualism and scientific method of modernity – that affect its theoretical foundations and research methods. Edusemiotics creates a new direction in educational theory and philosophy of education as grounded in the logic of signs. It draws from the intellectual legacy of Peirce, Dewey, Deleuze, Kristeva, Derrida, Greimas, Frankfurt School and other, at first sight different, thinkers. Overcoming dualisms is a distinguishing feature of the “edusemiotic turn” in education, together with other defining characteristics to be offered for discussion in this introduction.
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A new branch of theoretical semiotics --EDUSEMIOTICS --will be formally launched at the 12th World congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) in Sofia, 16-20 September 2014, New Bulgarian University. Please join... more
A new branch of theoretical semiotics --EDUSEMIOTICS --will be formally launched at the 12th World congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) in Sofia, 16-20 September 2014, New Bulgarian University. Please join the discussion on edusemiotics following the links on the IASS website: http://semio2014.org/en/home
Edusemiotics is a new direction in educational philosophy and theory. As a novel concept, it first appeared in the book "Semiotics Education Experience" (2010) followed by "The Edusemiotics of Images: Essays on the Art~Science of Tarot" (2013); as well as in a number of book chapters, journal articles and conference presentations. Edusemiotics is currently a subject of research of the International Semiosis & Education network: https://wwwedu.oulu.fi/semed/
Edusemiotics is a new direction in educational philosophy and theory. As a novel concept, it first appeared in the book "Semiotics Education Experience" (2010) followed by "The Edusemiotics of Images: Essays on the Art~Science of Tarot" (2013); as well as in a number of book chapters, journal articles and conference presentations. Edusemiotics is currently a subject of research of the International Semiosis & Education network: https://wwwedu.oulu.fi/semed/
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W. Nöth pointed out that graphic symbols (including iconic and indexical signs) continue to be an under-explored field of research in semiotics. Tarot represents a semiotic, tri-relative, system and Tarot images are educative in terms of... more
W. Nöth pointed out that graphic symbols (including iconic and indexical signs) continue to be an under-explored field of research in semiotics. Tarot represents a semiotic, tri-relative, system and Tarot images are educative in terms of the discovery of meanings for human experience. The hermeneutic process of reading and interpretation is an example of educational semiotics (edusemiotics; the term coined by M. Danesi in line with biosemiotics, zoosemiotics etc.) as informal lifelong learning that leads to deep self-knowledge and elicits the transformation of habits. Tarot is a semiotic model for what Peirce called a psychological (largely unconscious) ground for habits; and the process of interpretation embodies a school of ethical living especially important for improving self-other relations. (The presentation is based on my two recent books (2011 and 2013) summarizing this research, both empirical and theoretical).
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Ecoliteracy in education has its origin in Fritjof Capra’s ongoing efforts (Capra, 1977) to foster ecological awareness through K-12 education. To aim to become “ecoliterate” means getting to understand the organisational principles of... more
Ecoliteracy in education has its origin in Fritjof Capra’s ongoing efforts (Capra, 1977) to foster ecological awareness through K-12 education. To aim to become “ecoliterate” means getting to understand the organisational principles of ecological communities and subsequently to be able to structure human communities in accord with the same principles, especially those regarding learning communities both within and without schools. As Capra explains, ecology derives from the Greek aikos that in the broadest sense means household and represents the field of study of the relationships connecting all members of the household understood in the context of whole human community. Questions of educational leadership and the particular nature of knowledge able to inform/develop ecoliteracy thus become crucial. This paper argues that ecoliteracy should become a household name for educational philosophy if the latter wants to expand the boundaries of formal schooling so as to be able to reach out into the world and move towards what is called “learning cities”. After critically examining Capra’s scholarship in ecology, I will discuss a contemporary European trend in “transdisciplinary education” (Nicolescu, 2005) and I argue that both are grounded in the cutting edge of contemporary science, namely systems thinking and the science of complementary pairs as based on relational dynamics (Kelso, 2006). The paper will also revisit the philosophical legacy of John Dewey. While Dewey’s philosophy indeed continues to inform the multilevelled discourse in the philosophy of education, my paper will explore the “untimely” dimension in his philosophy. The paper will conclude by making what Dewey would have called a “warranted assertion”: only when positioned in the ecological context and as supported by the most recent advances in science, many of Dewey’s insights become clear and especially significant for informing/training future leaders in education as “ecoliterate”.
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In this paper I bring together Peirce’s triadic semiotics and Jung’s archetypal psychology asserting that the process of mediation or interpretation (as the Peircean Thirdness) is common to both. As an embodiment of such “logic of the... more
In this paper I bring together Peirce’s triadic semiotics and Jung’s archetypal psychology asserting that the process of mediation or interpretation (as the Peircean Thirdness) is common to both. As an embodiment of such “logic of the included middle” I use a case study represented by one real-life Tarot reading for “Marina”. Tarot symbols have a healing and transformative potential because they create a semiotic bridge between the unconscious archetypes as the universals of human experiences and the conscious mind.
The art of interpretation (or “reading” signs) transforms the chaos of Marina’s individual perceptions into a meaningful pattern of experiences that become literally visible to her in the format of pictorial images as the reading unfolds and an unorthodox communication is being established. The explication of the implicit meanings, in accord with Peirce’s pragmatic maxim, has profound implications at the physical and mental levels by not only contributing to healing Marina’s psyche but also by virtue of empowering her with the ability to look reflectively at herself and her significant others. Despite (or perhaps due to) her confusing and painful experiences, Marina achieves the level of self-awareness that enables her to choose actions, which would have remained “taboo” for her if not for the transformative effect of the healing art of Tarot symbolism.
The art of interpretation (or “reading” signs) transforms the chaos of Marina’s individual perceptions into a meaningful pattern of experiences that become literally visible to her in the format of pictorial images as the reading unfolds and an unorthodox communication is being established. The explication of the implicit meanings, in accord with Peirce’s pragmatic maxim, has profound implications at the physical and mental levels by not only contributing to healing Marina’s psyche but also by virtue of empowering her with the ability to look reflectively at herself and her significant others. Despite (or perhaps due to) her confusing and painful experiences, Marina achieves the level of self-awareness that enables her to choose actions, which would have remained “taboo” for her if not for the transformative effect of the healing art of Tarot symbolism.
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Peter Hallward’s critical and creative reading of Deleuze in his Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation presents Deleuze’s philosophy as bordering on mystical and as such devoid of possible political implications at the... more
Peter Hallward’s critical and creative reading of Deleuze in his Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation presents Deleuze’s philosophy as bordering on mystical and as such devoid of possible political implications at the level of socio-cultural reality. In this paper I will challenge the second thesis while affirming and clarifying the first. Deleuze’s mysticism is deeply practical (Lovat &Semetsky 2009; Semetsky 2009; in print a, b) and the “magical” transformation of society is indeed possible. I will outline the conditions of possibility for such transformation, starting with the transformation of the self as “becoming-other” and drawing from such Deleuze’s works as The Logic of Sense and Difference and Repetition. I will analyze the paradoxical structure of esoteric languages, grounded in Deleuze’s greater ontology, and will present an example of one particular esoteric language as a system of signs (Semetsky 2006). This is the expressive language of Tarot “cartograms”, from “The Fool” to “The World”, which embody the folds of human experiences across times, places, and cultures. The paper’s conclusion is that the pictures’ unfolding meanings manifest in practical life; with life itself becoming, in Deleuze’s words, a work of art. Applying this ancient art at the level of our actions and decisions will enable us to witness the creative power of this esoteric language and to connect in practice the spiritual and material planes hence ultimately to enrich society with spiritual values as part of its [r]evolutionary transformation and learning.
In this paper I explore Gilles Deleuze’s assertion that it is only during esoteric experiences (dreams, déjà-vu and the likes) that we can become able to perceive the real virtual past, which is enfolded in the grandiose time of... more
In this paper I explore Gilles Deleuze’s assertion that it is only during esoteric experiences (dreams, déjà-vu and the likes) that we can become able to perceive the real virtual past, which is enfolded in the grandiose time of coexistence capable of unfolding or disclosing the virtual. What is the esoteric practice of the ultimate intensity of desire so that afford a synthesis of time such as to transcend both “spatial locations and temporal successions” (Deleuze, 1994, p. 83)? I will present a practical example of the actualization of the virtual when we become capable of the expanded perception of time and space, which therefore can be “released from their human coordinates” (Deleuze, 1986, p. 122) that capture space merely in its three physical dimensions and time as chronological and linear.
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Research Interests: Jean Gebser and Tarot
The paper focuses on the ancient art of Tarot as a philosophical system; a symbolic representation of both phenomenal world (including our human actions) and cosmos. When a pattern of pictures (that as the saying goes are worth more than... more
The paper focuses on the ancient art of Tarot as a philosophical system; a symbolic representation of both phenomenal world (including our human actions) and cosmos. When a pattern of pictures (that as the saying goes are worth more than thousands of words) is laid down, we consider it as a generic text full of implicit meanings. The reading and interpretation of this text makes meanings explicit. Each image in a sequence of positions that forms a process~structure of a layout has some specific connotations, the meanings of which become clear in the form of hermeneutical-historical (vs. strictly analytic) reasoning in the process of a developing dialogue between the subject and the reader. We treat this information with respect and care as every bit of IN-formation has a potential ability for TRANS-formation. Some examples of such transformation will be provided by reference to a documented reading
Semiotics “lives” in Academia mainly in the departments of media and communication or in linguistics, and the value of this interdisciplinary field remains underrated in the schools of education. In this talk I will reflect on the... more
Semiotics “lives” in Academia mainly in the departments of media and communication or in linguistics, and the value of this interdisciplinary field remains underrated in the schools of education.
In this talk I will reflect on the recent comprehensive volume titled SEMIOTICS EDUCATION EXPERIENCE as representative of the cutting-edge research in the field of education specifically. I will address a new sub-branch of semiotics, EDUSEMIOTICS, as a theory-practice nexus oriented to the interpretation of signs (as a unit of semiotic analysis) with which, according to American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, “the world is perfused”.
Semiotics will be shown as an overarching conceptual framework especially fruitful for education because people are always already sign-using systems, even if they may not know it.
In this talk I will reflect on the recent comprehensive volume titled SEMIOTICS EDUCATION EXPERIENCE as representative of the cutting-edge research in the field of education specifically. I will address a new sub-branch of semiotics, EDUSEMIOTICS, as a theory-practice nexus oriented to the interpretation of signs (as a unit of semiotic analysis) with which, according to American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, “the world is perfused”.
Semiotics will be shown as an overarching conceptual framework especially fruitful for education because people are always already sign-using systems, even if they may not know it.
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Jerry Fodor created his LOT Hypothesis back in 1975. Yet verbal language is secondary to the semiotic system of primitive signs that serve as tools for understanding, meaning making and creating new complex concepts. I assert that... more
Jerry Fodor created his LOT Hypothesis back in 1975. Yet verbal language is secondary to the semiotic system of primitive signs that serve as tools for understanding, meaning making and creating new complex concepts.
I assert that combinatorial semantics finds its unorthodox expression in the Tarot images that form a system of signs as “keys” to encoded information. Our beliefs, hopes, fears and desires – even when unconscious and yet unthought of from the subjective point of view – objectively have a compositional structure that may be laid down in front of our own eyes in the format of Tarot symbols and images that stand for affects, thoughts, and actions alike. We need to step away from the “linguistic turn” and forward to the “semiotic turn” in our search for the lost pre-verbal “speech” and understanding the Mentalese.
Contemporary advances in science support this argument and will be explored during this presentation.
I assert that combinatorial semantics finds its unorthodox expression in the Tarot images that form a system of signs as “keys” to encoded information. Our beliefs, hopes, fears and desires – even when unconscious and yet unthought of from the subjective point of view – objectively have a compositional structure that may be laid down in front of our own eyes in the format of Tarot symbols and images that stand for affects, thoughts, and actions alike. We need to step away from the “linguistic turn” and forward to the “semiotic turn” in our search for the lost pre-verbal “speech” and understanding the Mentalese.
Contemporary advances in science support this argument and will be explored during this presentation.
Antoine Faivre, tracing the Western Esoteric Tradition from its ancient and medieval sources to Christian theosophy up to the 20th Century philosophers of science, referred to Tarot symbolism as one of the forms of esoteric, Gnostic... more
Antoine Faivre, tracing the Western Esoteric Tradition from its ancient and medieval sources to Christian theosophy up to the 20th Century philosophers of science, referred to Tarot symbolism as one of the forms of esoteric, Gnostic knowledge. Russian philosopher and professor of law Valentin Tomberg, the author of the volume that Faivre called the “magisterial work”, presented the images of Tarot Major Arcana as spiritual lessons that embody the principles of objective cosmos. Tomberg emphasized that Tarot images must be presented to consciousness so as to enable humankind to make discoveries and engender new ideas. Another Russian, Peotr Ouspensky posited Tarot primarily as a metaphysical system indicating the three-folded relation between a human soul, the physical or phenomenal world, and the world of ideas or the noumenal, divine or spiritual, world. Using the insights of these three scholars as a point of departure, I will demonstrate how prophetic Gnostic knowledge is embodied in the layouts of pictures with its past, present and future dimensions simultaneously. I will use research summarized in my two recent books “Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic” (2011) and “The Edusemiotics of Images: Essays on the Art~ Science of Tarot” (2013).
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The connection between the human and the divine is traditionally considered to be beyond human understanding and relegated to the mystical realm. As often cited, Wittgenstein insisted that what we cannot talk about we must pass over in... more
The connection between the human and the divine is traditionally considered to be beyond human understanding and relegated to the mystical realm. As often cited, Wittgenstein insisted that what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.
As a counter-argument, this paper presents Gilles Deleuze’s ontology of the virtual and his method of transcendental empiricism which is oriented to perceiving the imperceptible and thinking the unthinkable by using the means of expression that exceed words and conscious thought.
Deleuze’s “esoteric calculus” is inseparable from his transversal ontology. It is specifically transversal communication functioning as the famous tertium quid that links together disparate but equally real levels such as virtual and actual.
Deleuze was interested in esoteric –nonverbal-- languages that encompass images, memories, and diverse regimes of signs as the expression of the unconscious or unthought. This paper will present a specific example of the “esoteric language” in the form of Tarot pictures and images that literally construct or lay down what Deleuze called the plane of immanence—that expresses -- SHOWS --- what otherwise would have remained unexpressed. The knowledge of such a language and our understanding of the function of signs becomes imperative if we want to overcome the limits posited by negative theology and Wittgenstein ‘s pessimism.
As a counter-argument, this paper presents Gilles Deleuze’s ontology of the virtual and his method of transcendental empiricism which is oriented to perceiving the imperceptible and thinking the unthinkable by using the means of expression that exceed words and conscious thought.
Deleuze’s “esoteric calculus” is inseparable from his transversal ontology. It is specifically transversal communication functioning as the famous tertium quid that links together disparate but equally real levels such as virtual and actual.
Deleuze was interested in esoteric –nonverbal-- languages that encompass images, memories, and diverse regimes of signs as the expression of the unconscious or unthought. This paper will present a specific example of the “esoteric language” in the form of Tarot pictures and images that literally construct or lay down what Deleuze called the plane of immanence—that expresses -- SHOWS --- what otherwise would have remained unexpressed. The knowledge of such a language and our understanding of the function of signs becomes imperative if we want to overcome the limits posited by negative theology and Wittgenstein ‘s pessimism.
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The paper presents Tarot as a manifestation of the ancient Hermetic tradition as regards both theory and, importantly, practice. The reading of images is grounded in hermeneutics as an interpretive practice that derives its name from... more
The paper presents Tarot as a manifestation of the ancient Hermetic tradition as regards both theory and, importantly, practice. The reading of images is grounded in hermeneutics as an interpretive practice that derives its name from Hermes -- the messenger and communicatior between gods and mortals who can understand and "speak" both languages. The paper looks into several historical roots of the sage Hermes Trismesgitus, the author of the ancient text Corpus Hermeticum. The paper focuses specifically on the meanings of two images in the Tarot Major Arcana -- the Magician as related to Hermes and the embodiment of the principle "as above so below"; and the High Priestess -- representing the figures of Isis (in Egypt), or Sophia (in Greece), or Shekhinah (in Jewish Kabbalah). The paper also includes some examples of the actual (documented) readings. Tarot hermeneutics aims to take away the veil of Isis and to heal the human psyche in this process.
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Long ago I started thinking more and more about a naturalistic, scientific, paradigm that could explain the phenomenon of Tarot readings which is usually delegated to the realm of the occult. It was obvious that old science based on... more
Long ago I started thinking more and more about a naturalistic, scientific, paradigm that could explain the phenomenon of Tarot readings which is usually delegated to the realm of the occult. It was obvious that old science based on linear mechanistic causality was insufficient – the same way as our verbal language may be equally inadequate to reflect the full richness of transpersonal experiences. This presentation will use some material derived from my two recent books “Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic” (2011) and “The Edusemiotics of Images: Essays on the Art~Science of Tarot” (2013). The talk will specifically focus on Tarot in connection with the new natural science of dynamic, self-organizing systems. Such perspective should take away the reductive perception of Tarot as dubious fortune-telling but instead re-conceptualize it in terms of representing the greater, transpersonal, reality while also interrogating our habitual ideas of physical three-dimensional space and merely chronological time.
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lecture on the topic of my 2013 book The Edusemiotics of Images
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The presentation will use some data from my research that resulted in the recently published book "Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human development and Tarot hermeneutic" (2011). Jungian psychologist Robert Romanyshyn refers to this work... more
The presentation will use some data from my research that resulted in the recently published book "Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human development and Tarot hermeneutic" (2011). Jungian psychologist Robert Romanyshyn refers to this work as a daring achievement and a spark of illumination that deepens mind into soul. The talk will be illustrated with presenting several Tarot layouts that demonstrate a transpersonal approach to counselling and elucidating the messages hiding deep in the collective unconscious. Some references to Kabbalah will also be made especially with regard to Tarot second Major Arcanum, The High Priestess, as symbolic of secret, gnostic, knowledge.
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Educational philosophy tends to be informed by analytic philosophy of language. A welcome alternative is provided by American pragmatism. Still, the habit of the linguistic turn and the logic of the excluded middle holds. A body~mind... more
Educational philosophy tends to be informed by analytic philosophy of language. A welcome alternative
is provided by American pragmatism. Still, the habit of the linguistic turn and the logic of the excluded
middle holds. A body~mind approach pertains to the semiotic turn. Semiotics functions on the basis of
the logic of the included middle and includes the interpretation of signs versus direct representation.
Analysing the philosophies of Peirce and Deleuze, together with a brief excursion into the cutting-edge
science of coordination dynamics, this paper focuses on body~mind learning while also noticing three
important challenges to education created by such an approach
is provided by American pragmatism. Still, the habit of the linguistic turn and the logic of the excluded
middle holds. A body~mind approach pertains to the semiotic turn. Semiotics functions on the basis of
the logic of the included middle and includes the interpretation of signs versus direct representation.
Analysing the philosophies of Peirce and Deleuze, together with a brief excursion into the cutting-edge
science of coordination dynamics, this paper focuses on body~mind learning while also noticing three
important challenges to education created by such an approach
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A post-doctoral fellowship provides a researcher an opportunity to continue and consolidate the research conducted as part of their doctoral work as well as develop new streams of research. In this seminar, the presenter will reflect on... more
A post-doctoral fellowship provides a researcher an opportunity to continue and consolidate the research conducted as part of their doctoral work as well as develop new streams of research. In this seminar, the presenter will reflect on her work and experience as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Faculty of education from 2005 to 2007. .... The researcher's theoretical position that knowledge is a dynamic process and is being gained in continuous experience has been confirmed by practice, especially significant in education.
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Semiotics in Academia relates mainly to media and communication, and the value of semiotic methodology is underrated in educational research. Edusemiotics (educational semiotics) can become a conceptual framework especially fruitful for... more
Semiotics in Academia relates mainly to media and communication, and the value of semiotic methodology is underrated in educational research.
Edusemiotics (educational semiotics) can become a conceptual framework especially fruitful for education because people are always already sign-using systems, even if they may not know it.
Education, rather than aiming to accumulating facts, should focus on our becoming more fully developed signs. Due to implicit presence of values, the moral dimension is germane to edusemiotics.
Edusemiotics (educational semiotics) can become a conceptual framework especially fruitful for education because people are always already sign-using systems, even if they may not know it.
Education, rather than aiming to accumulating facts, should focus on our becoming more fully developed signs. Due to implicit presence of values, the moral dimension is germane to edusemiotics.
Educational philosophy in English-speaking countries tends to be informed mainly by analytic philosophy common in Western tradition. An welcome alternative is provided by pragmatism in the tradition of Peirce, James, and Dewey. Still the... more
Educational philosophy in English-speaking countries tends to be informed mainly by analytic philosophy common in Western tradition. An welcome alternative is provided by pragmatism in the tradition of Peirce, James, and Dewey. Still the habit of the so-called “linguistic turn” has a firm grip. Analytic philosophy of language grounded in the logic of non-contradiction (excluded middle) presented verbal signs as the sole means of directly representing reality.
In education, integrative – bodymind – approaches are usually delegated to Eastern traditions and philosophies (Tao, Yoga, Buddhism), while Western thinking is habitually equated with rationality and logical reason. So Western philosophy and education alike continue to suffer from the great bifurcation between body and mind.
In this presentation I want to explore what I call the semiotic turn. Importantly, the semiotic turn is not illogical. My thesis is that it is logic as semiotics (that is, the logic of the included middle) that foregrounds bodymind learning. The process of reasoning however is indirect or mediated; it involves interpretation versus direct representation, it is analogical and connects what otherwise are doomed to remain two separate Cartesian substances of body versus mind thereby contrasting knowledge and action.
Using examples from Dewey, Deleuze, and Nel Noddings, I will demonstrate how the bodymind assemblage is created in practice and what may be the ethical implications of such a stance for educational philosophy.
In education, integrative – bodymind – approaches are usually delegated to Eastern traditions and philosophies (Tao, Yoga, Buddhism), while Western thinking is habitually equated with rationality and logical reason. So Western philosophy and education alike continue to suffer from the great bifurcation between body and mind.
In this presentation I want to explore what I call the semiotic turn. Importantly, the semiotic turn is not illogical. My thesis is that it is logic as semiotics (that is, the logic of the included middle) that foregrounds bodymind learning. The process of reasoning however is indirect or mediated; it involves interpretation versus direct representation, it is analogical and connects what otherwise are doomed to remain two separate Cartesian substances of body versus mind thereby contrasting knowledge and action.
Using examples from Dewey, Deleuze, and Nel Noddings, I will demonstrate how the bodymind assemblage is created in practice and what may be the ethical implications of such a stance for educational philosophy.
Time: 01:00 - 02:00 pm Location: Monash University, Building 6, G23, Clayton Charles Sanders Peirce was a pragmatic philosopher and semiotician. In this seminar, we address Peirce s logical category of abduction from both... more
Time: 01:00 - 02:00 pm
Location: Monash University, Building 6, G23, Clayton
Charles Sanders Peirce was a pragmatic philosopher and semiotician. In this seminar, we address Peirce s logical category of abduction from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Although in psychological terms abduction can be interpreted as intuition or insight, it still belongs to the rational, inferential process. We assert that abductive inference is not only part of the learning process but it also contributes to meaning-making, as well as inventing new scientific concepts in practice. A few cases of a child explaining natural phenomena using abduction that is, creating novel concepts were found from observing a 5-year-old s daily activities at home and analysing the data according to the criterion extracted from Peirce s logical form for abductive inference. Data were collected reflecting the child's abductive inferences as either based on figural and behavioural resemblance or affected by individual and communal beliefs. New categorisations informed by the child's logical (abductive) reasoning were, in several cases, accompanied by overgeneralisation, which represents an interesting empirical fact warranting further research. We address double aspects of abduction and consider some implications for teaching practice in a primary classroom, while affirming the value of learning from experience.
Location: Monash University, Building 6, G23, Clayton
Charles Sanders Peirce was a pragmatic philosopher and semiotician. In this seminar, we address Peirce s logical category of abduction from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Although in psychological terms abduction can be interpreted as intuition or insight, it still belongs to the rational, inferential process. We assert that abductive inference is not only part of the learning process but it also contributes to meaning-making, as well as inventing new scientific concepts in practice. A few cases of a child explaining natural phenomena using abduction that is, creating novel concepts were found from observing a 5-year-old s daily activities at home and analysing the data according to the criterion extracted from Peirce s logical form for abductive inference. Data were collected reflecting the child's abductive inferences as either based on figural and behavioural resemblance or affected by individual and communal beliefs. New categorisations informed by the child's logical (abductive) reasoning were, in several cases, accompanied by overgeneralisation, which represents an interesting empirical fact warranting further research. We address double aspects of abduction and consider some implications for teaching practice in a primary classroom, while affirming the value of learning from experience.