The Symbol Theory

The Symbol Theory PDF Author: Norbert Elias
Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
In The Symbol Theory, Norbert Elias draws together three central themes. At the first level the book is concerned with symbols in relation to language, knowing and thinking. Secondly, Elias stresses that symbols are also tangible sound-patterns of human communication, made possible by the evolutionary biological precondition of human vocal apparatus. At a third level, the book addresses theoretical issues about the ontological status of knowledge, moving beyond traditional philosophical dualisms such as subject//object and idealism//materialism. The bulk of The Symbol Theory was published in Vol 6, issues 2, 3 and 4 of Theory, Culture & Society.

The Symbol Theory

The Symbol Theory PDF Author: Norbert Elias
Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book

Book Description
In The Symbol Theory, Norbert Elias draws together three central themes. At the first level the book is concerned with symbols in relation to language, knowing and thinking. Secondly, Elias stresses that symbols are also tangible sound-patterns of human communication, made possible by the evolutionary biological precondition of human vocal apparatus. At a third level, the book addresses theoretical issues about the ontological status of knowledge, moving beyond traditional philosophical dualisms such as subject//object and idealism//materialism. The bulk of The Symbol Theory was published in Vol 6, issues 2, 3 and 4 of Theory, Culture & Society.

Theories of the Symbol

Theories of the Symbol PDF Author: Tzvetan Todorov
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801492884
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Focusing on theories of verbal symbolism, Tzvetan Todorov here presents a history of semiotics. From an account of the semiotic doctrines embodied in the works of classical rhetoric to an exploration of representative modern concepts of the symbol found in ethnology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, and poetics, Todorov examines the rich tradition of sign theory. In the course of his discussion Todorov treats the works of such writers as Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Augustine, Condillac, Lessing, Diderot, Goethe, Novalis, the Schlegel brothers, Levy-Bruhl, Freud, Saussure, and Jakobson.

Symbol and Theory

Symbol and Theory PDF Author: John Skorupski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521272520
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Anthropologists have always been concerned with the difference between traditional (or 'primitive') and scientific modes of thought and with the relationships between magic, religion and science. John Skorupski distinguishes two broadly opposed approaches to these problems: the 'intellectualist' regards primitive systems of thought and actions as cosmologies, comparable to scientific theory, which emerge and persist as attempts to control the natural world; the 'symbolist' regards them as essentially representative or expressive of the pattern of social relations in the culture in which they exist. Dr Skorupski considers in particular the notions of ritual, ceremony and symbol. He shows how their understanding involves and suggests more general philosophical problems of relativism, interpretation, translation, and the connections between belief and action. These are difficult and important problems and require an unusual combination of imagination and interdisciplinary exercise. This book is intended especially for philosophers, social anthropologists, social theorists and students of comparative religion.

From Signal to Symbol

From Signal to Symbol PDF Author: Ronald Planer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262366029
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
A novel account of the evolution of language and the cognitive capacities on which language depends. In From Signal to Symbol, Ronald Planer and Kim Sterelny propose a novel theory of language: that modern language is the product of a long series of increasingly rich protolanguages evolving over the last two million years. Arguing that language and cognition coevolved, they give a central role to archaeological evidence and attempt to infer cognitive capacities on the basis of that evidence, which they link in turn to communicative capacities. Countering other accounts, which move directly from archaeological traces to language, Planer and Sterelny show that rudimentary forms of many of the elements on which language depends can be found in the great apes and were part of the equipment of the earliest species in our lineage. After outlining the constraints a theory of the evolution of language should satisfy and filling in the details of their model, they take up the evolution of words, composite utterances, and hierarchical structure. They consider the transition from a predominantly gestural to a predominantly vocal form of language and discuss the economic and social factors that led to language. Finally, they evaluate their theory in terms of the constraints previously laid out.

Symbols that Stand for Themselves

Symbols that Stand for Themselves PDF Author: Roy Wagner
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226869296
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
This important new work by Roy Wagner is about the autonomy of symbols and their role in creating culture. Its argument, anticipated in the author's previous book, The Invention of Culture, is at once symbolic, philosophical, and evolutionary: meaning is a form of perception to which human beings are physically and mentally adapted. Using examples from his many years of research among the Daribi people of New Guinea as well as from Western culture, Wagner approaches the question of the creation of meaning by examining the nonreferential qualities of symbols—such as their aesthetic and formal properties—that enable symbols to stand for themselves.

From Sign to Symbol

From Sign to Symbol PDF Author: Joseph Newirth
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498576850
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
In From Sign to Symbol: Transformational Processes in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, and Psychology, Joseph Newirth describes the evolution of the unconscious from the psychoanalytic concept that reflected Freud’s positivist focus on symptoms and repressed memories to the contemporary structure that uses symbols and metaphors to create meaning within intimate, intersubjective relationships. Newirth integrates psychoanalytic theory with cognitive, developmental, and neuropsychological theories, and he differentiates two broad therapeutic strategies: an asymmetrical strategy that utilizes the logic of consciousness and emphasizes the differentiation of person, place, time, and causality in the world of objects, and a symmetrical strategy that utilizes the logic of the unconscious in the world of emotional, intersubjective experience. He presents multiple approaches to the use of these symmetrical therapeutic strategies, including the use of humor, dreams, metaphors, and implicit procedural learning, in transforming concrete symptoms and signs into the symbolic organizations of meaning. Examples from both psychotherapeutic practice and supervision are presented to illustrate the development of the capacity for symbolic thought or mentalization.

Musical Terms, Symbols and Theory

Musical Terms, Symbols and Theory PDF Author: Michael C. Thomsett
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476615268
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Noted lexicographer Thomsett here dissects more than 1,400 terms, a buttula to zither, with clarity and precision; 383 high quality original illustrations render concepts that make verbal explanation difficult. Fully cross referenced, this dictionary is an authoritative source for researchers, musicologists, professional musicians, teachers and students of music, and educated members of the public. The richly detailed and comprehensive dictionary proper is followed by a five-language glossary of instruments. An illustrated notation guide provides identification of symbols used in musical scores. The final section comprehensively covers scales, keys and chords.

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism PDF Author: Herbert Blumer
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520056763
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This is a collection of articles dealing with the point of view of symbolic interactionism and with the topic of methodology in the discipline of sociology. It is written by the leading figure in the school of symbolic interactionism, and presents what might be regarded as the most authoritative statement of its point of view, outlining its fundamental premises and sketching their implications for sociological study. Blumer states that symbolic interactionism rests on three premises: that human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings of things have for them; that the meaning of such things derives from the social interaction one has with one's fellows; and that these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process.

Beyond the Symbol Model

Beyond the Symbol Model PDF Author: John Robert Stewart
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791430835
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This interdisciplinary conversation discusses the nature of language.

The Symbolic Construction of Reality

The Symbolic Construction of Reality PDF Author: Jeffrey Andrew Barash
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459605594
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
In 1933 eminent philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874 - 1945) fled Nazi Germany for the United States. His fame in Europe having already been established through a public debate with Martin Heidegger in 1929, Cassirer would go on to become a noteworthy influence on American culture. His most important early writings focused on the symbol and symbolic...