ABSTRACT
In this essay, I examine several epistemological problems of mainstream semiotics. However, in order to be constructive, I also will sketch a way out of them.
Seeking to understand meaning quite generally – that is, how we use the term – we are led to a critical choice between two alternative paths of understanding.The well-trodden path of mainstream semiotics is called objectivism. I will call the other constructivism without denying that there are various shades of objectivism and various shades of constructivism,1 just as there also are many variations in approaches to semiotics. I do believe the two paths are epistemologically incommensurable and lead to significantly different social practices.
