ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to providing the background essential for the systematic account of different levels of signs that begins with the next. I am not concerned here with providing a sequel to the excellent historical studies available in the recent literature. It is sufficient for our purposes to show the origins of some issues that will concern us later and to outline the main sides in the controversies arising from earlier solutions to basic problems. The most important of these involves the status of natural signs, signs not produced for the purposes of communication, and the relationship of these signs to linguistic signs. In the process of conducting this brief survey we will see how the conception of a sign has evolved through a long history of philosophical discussions. This presents us with the problem of selecting among alternative conceptions in defining the scope of semiotic in the final section of this chapter.
