Editorial: What is semiotics but a series of modeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-471
Author(s):  
Hongbing Yu

Abstract The present issue of Chinese Semiotic Studies is published in memory of Thomas A. Sebeok. Sebeok was not only a master semiotician, but more importantly a grand artist in semiotics. As one of the most important contemporary figures in semiotics, linguistics, ethnology, and cultural studies, Sebeok made profound contributions to the progress of global semiotics through his distinguished theoretical achievements and promotional activities. His works have proven to be so relevant that they continue to exert a determinative influence and provide directions for the development of semiotics and its many subdivisions, especially biosemiotics, beyond the 20th century. Now, 21 years into the present century, during which semiotic studies around the world have made remarkable progress, it is about time to highlight some specific ways in which his contributions will continue to shape and guide semiotic studies, demonstrating the relevance of these contributions to the 21st century challenges. To this end, this special issue presents some up-to-date and informed studies that explore Sebeok’s contributions to semiotics and their vital implications for fundamental problems relevant to humanity as a semiotic animal in the present day and in the rest of this century and beyond.

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip C. Stenning ◽  
Clifford D. Shearing

A few years ago, David Bayley and Clifford Shearing (1996) argued that at the end of the 20th century we were witnessing a ‘watershed’ in policing, when transformations were occurring in the practices and sponsorship of policing on a scale unprecedented since the developments that heralded the creation of the ‘New Police’ in the 19th century. In this special issue of the journal, we and our fellow contributors turn our attention to a somewhat neglected aspect of this ‘quiet revolution’ in policing (Stenning & Shearing, 1980), namely the nature of the opportunities for, and challenges posed by, the reform of policing in different parts of the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Our attention in this issue is particularly focused on the opportunities, drivers and challenges in reforming public (state-sponsored) police institutions.


Author(s):  
Shanta Balgobind Singh ◽  
Marion Pluskota

History has shown that primitive societies, with their well-developed value and norm systems, were self-governing. Needs of the people led to the development of mechanisms for survival. As primitive societies became more complex, a need arose for knowledge of the nature and structure of the communities in which they lived. Moral laws and rules, which governed primitive communities, were organized around the family and tribal environment. Even in the 21st century, forms of human behavior management center on tribal authority systems in different parts of the world. Crime is a social construction that has been widely theorized by historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and, of course, criminologists. Researchers have long tried to answer the questions as to why crime exists, how it is defined, how it can be controlled, and what makes it more prevalent in certain communities than in others. This special issue addresses many of these questions and reflects on contemporary research in the criminological field. The authors are at the forefront of the research on crime and shed new light on our societies’ ability to identify, reduce, or cope with criminality.


Author(s):  
Ray Kurzweil

I have been involved in inventing since I was five, and I quickly realized that for an invention to succeed, you have to target the world of the future. But what would the future be like? To find out, I became a student of technology trends and began to develop mathematical models of different technologies: computation, miniaturization, evolution over time. I have been doing that for 25 years, and it has been remarkable to me how powerful and predictive these models are. Now, before I show you some of these models and then try to build with you some of the scenarios for the future—and, in particular, focus on how these will benefit technology for the disabled—I would like to share one trend that I think is particularly profound and that many people fail to take into consideration. It is this: the rate of progress—what I call the “paradigmshift rate”—is itself accelerating. We are doubling this paradigm-shift rate every decade. The whole 20th century was not 100 years of progress as we know it today, because it has taken us a while to speed up to the current level of progress. The 20t h century represented about 20 years of progress in terms of today’s rate. And at today’s rate of change, we will achieve an amount of progress equivalent to that of the whole 20th century in 14 years, then as the acceleration continues, in 7 years. The progress in the 21st century will be about 1,000 times greater than that in the 20th century, which was no slouch in terms of change.


This chapter will delve on modern approaches to city making (eco-cities, sustainable cities, resilient cities, etc.) explaining their basics and complexity. Additionally, the demands that changing solutions place on the architects, urban planners, and other city designers will be explained. The scope should be treated as the introduction to the circular economy approach; it will also cover other development attitudes where a city was not the initial prime element even if urban planning became one of the main issues during later phases of development. Such attitudes can be traced in the mid-20th century policy making with the car transport being the leading development attitude but having a wide impact on the solutions used in most cities. It will also explain when the urbanization process became part of this economic approach. The chapter will include principles of the modern initiatives in various parts of the world and consider existing movements allowing for a more sweeping coverage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk G. Van der Merwe

Throughout its history, Christianity has stood in a dichotomous relation to the various philosophical movements or eras (pre-modernism, modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism) that took on different faces throughout history. In each period, it was the sciences that influenced, to a great extent, the interpretation and understanding of the Bible. Christianity, however, was not immune to influences, specifically those of the Western world. This essay reflects briefly on this dichotomy and the influence of Bultmann’s demythologising of the kerygma during the 20th century. Also, the remythologising (Vanhoozer) of the church’s message as proposed for the 21st century no more satisfies the critical Christian thinkers. The relationship between science and religion is revisited, albeit from a different perspective as established over the past two decades as to how the sciences have been pointed out more and more to complement theology. This article endeavours to evoke the church to consider the fundamental contributions of the sciences and how it is going to incorporate the sciences into its theological training and message to the world.


Author(s):  
Herbert S. Klein ◽  
Francisco Vidal Luna

The 20th century represents a crucial period in Brazil’s economic history, when an agrarian, rural-dominated society became an urban, industrialized country with a complex financial sector and a large service sector. This economic transformation fueled by coffee exports led to profound demographic and social changes as millions of European and Asian immigrants were integrated into Brazilian society, followed by a massive shift of native-born migrants from the northeast to the dynamic southeast of Brazil, particularly for the state of São Paulo, which became the richest, most industrialized, and most populous state of the nation. The second half of the 20th century saw the creation of a modern industrial sector and the modernization of national agriculture, which in the 21st century made Brazil one of the most important producers of grain and animal protein in the world.


Author(s):  
Carl Becker

The 20th century may be considered the ultimate expression of Western ideals and philosophy: "civilized" humanity's attempt to dominate "uncivilized" peoples and nature. The 21st century soberingly proclaims the shortsightedness and ultimate unsustainability of this philosophy. This paper shows the limitations of a modern Western world-view, and the practical applicability of ideas to be found in Asian philosophies. In outline, the contrast may be portrayed by the following overgeneralizations: (1) From a linear to a cyclical world view; (2) from divine salvation to karmic necessity; (3) from human dominion over nature to human place within nature; (4) from the perfectibility of humanity and the world through science; (5) from atomistic mechanistic individualism to organic interdependence; (6) from competition to cooperation; (7) from glorification of wealth to respect for humanhood; (8) from absolute cultural values to necessary common values. Each of these attitudes is examined in light of what we now know about the world in the 21st century, as Asian philosophy is found applicable to address future problems.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Rathgeb Smith

AbstractAs the articles in this special issue demonstrate, the emergence of government-voluntary sector compacts around the world is intimately linked to comprehensive transformations the welfare state is undergoing in many countries. The fact that the first compact was developed in England is significant; since the early 20th century, the development of the welfare state in many societies has been significantly influenced by the ideas coming from policymakers, scholars and advocates in the United Kingdom.


2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANTE CICCHETTI ◽  
STEPHEN P. HINSHAW

With the passing of Paul E. Meehl, Regents Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, on February 14, 2003, the world lost one of the most influential clinical psychologists of the 20th century. The breadth of his interests, the preciseness and clarity of his thinking, the elegance of his writing, and his ability to integrate scientific and clinical matters of import were hallmarks of his illustrious career (see, e.g., Meehl, 1954, 1973, 1991). Yet, it is the very magnitude of his professional pursuits that defy categorization or even placement within a single field of inquiry. Whether they pertain to philosophical matters, measurement and psychodiagnostic issues, or elucidating psychopathological processes, Paul Meehl's contributions were seminal and established a base on which scholars could build their own theoretical and research perspectives. Although Paul certainly did not consider himself to be a developmental psychopathologist, his influence can be seen in the theoretical and methodological streams that have nurtured the emergence and growth of the field. Thus, it seems a fitting tribute to Paul that this Special Issue, “Conceptual, Methodological, and Statistical Issues in Developmental Psychopathology,” be dedicated in his honor.


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