Four questions on Semiotics: its history, its place, its epistemological bases

Abstract

On the occasion of the publication of Pratiques discursives du savoir. Le cas sémiotique (2022), the organizers of the present dossier addressed four questions to its author, Sémir Badir, relating to the historiography and epistemology of Semiotics. The first question addresses different ways of conceiving the history of Semiotics, either around a theoretical project, or around a notion, seeking to identify its ideal addressee. The second question concerns the links between the theories of Saussure, Hjelmslev and Greimas. Badir argues in favor of a discursive (rather than notional or theoretical) approach, highlighting the disciplinary context, the materiality of discourse and the epistemic domain in which these links are posited, displayed and made active. A third aspect concerns the evolution of post-Greimasian Semiotics. The existence of a research program is not in question. But instead of leading to widespread applications, Semiotics constantly returns to its own theoretical foundations. Finally, there is the question of semiotics' relationship with neighboring disciplines. The Semiotic program claims to have repercussions on the general organization of the sciences, thus highlighting the particular, non-disciplinarized epistemological status of this discursive practice of knowledge.