ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to highlight the role that the unconscious plays in meaning-making. In pursuit of this goal, we will propose a semiotic conceptualization of the unconscious. Our starting point is Ignacio Matte Blanco’s theory of the unconscious. With it we will present a model of the affects as a mode of semiosis, in contrast to semiosis in “paradigmatic” (logical) thought. We will discuss (a) how affective semiosis might be conceived, (b) what kind of object it takes as its reference, and (c) how a joint psychodynamic and semiotic approach can help to understand meaningmaking.
