Latour for Semiotics

Abstract

AbstractAfter highlighting the role played by the theory of signification in the development of an original research project aimed at exploring the paradoxes of a modernity that stubbornly strives to reaffirm the separation between nature and culture, denying the existence of those hybrids that it itself is unable to curb, it is now possible to change perspective, reversing the point of view assumed so far, focusing attention on the impact exerted by Latour’s work on contemporary semiotic research. There are at least three areas in which the dialogue outlined in the previous chapters appears most intense and potentially fruitful. A first area of study concerns the debate around an extended theory of enunciation, developed in parallel with the broadening of the phenomena of signification explored by contemporary semiotic research. A second direction starts from overcoming the nature/culture dichotomy and revolves around rethinking the relationship between semiotics and cultural anthropology, recognising the need to investigate the different modes of existence at play in contemporary phenomena by considering notions such as multinaturalism and internaturality. The third, finally, takes shape from the need to account for the sociosemiotic dimension inherent in artefacts, in their design, in the practices of their use, also in reference to the emerging signals of a new society of smart devices, marked by the irruption of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, technical and social innovations enabled by increasingly extensive, complex, and pervasive networks of hybrid agents.