Excerpts from readers of the book of life

pp. 657-696

in: Donald Favareau, Essential readings in biosemiotics, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

At the time of his attendance at the first annual Gatherings in Biosemiotics conference in 2001, experimental cellular physiologist and philosopher of science Anton Markoš had just completed a groundbreaking treatise entitled Readers of the Book of Life – a book that called for the development of a "biohermeneutic" understanding of sign processes in living systems that proceeded not from a Peircean or Uexküllian perspective, but from a grounding in the existential hermeneutics of philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002). Thus it was Markoš's paper presentation at that inaugural conference that led to the incorporation of the "biohermeneutic school" of inquiry into contemporary biosemiotics.