Biosemiotics and biophysics
the fundamental approaches to the study of life
pp. 167-178
in: Marcello Barbieri (ed), Introduction to biosemiotics, Berlin, Springer, 2007Abstract
The importance, scope, and goals of semiotics can be compared to the ones of physics. These represent two principal ways of approaching the world scientifically. Physics is a study of quantities, whereas semiotics is a study of diversity. Physics is about natural laws, while semiotics is about code processes. Semiotic models can describe features that are beyond the reach of physical models due to the more restricted methodological requirements of the latter. The "measuring devices' of semiotics are alive — which is a sine qua nonfor the presence of meanings. Thus, the two principal ways to scientifically approach living systems are biophysics and biosemiotics. Accordingly, semiotic (including biosemiotic) systems can be studied both physically (e.g., using statistical methods) and semiotically (e.g., focusing on the uniqueness of the system). The principle of code plurality as a generalization of the code duality principle is formulated.Physical or natural-scientific methodology sets certain limits to the acceptable ways of acquiring knowledge. The more alive the object of study, the more restrictive are these limits. Therefore, there exists the space for another methodology – the semiotic methodology that can study the qualitative diversity and meaningfulness of the world of life.