Why biosemiotics? - Jesper Hoffmeyer

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]I'm sorry I cannot be with you [music] at this important event, but I haven't yet regained my own voice, so even if I were, you wouldn't easily understand me.

[00:00:07]Living systems are structured [music] to facilitate the semiotic challenges of the particular cell in which they occur.

[00:00:13]Most biologists would object to this, claiming instead that the chemistry [music] of the cell is primary. But according to biosemiotics, this is to put the cart before the horses. What the [music] cell actually does must necessarily reflect the semiotic challenges it will have to cope with. We therefore maintain that chemistry reflects semiosis rather than vice versa. But the traditional scheme [music] of chemistry yielding semiosis has led to failure in agriculture, where the petrochemistry oil has been considered a magic formula, [music] as well as in the hospitals, where it's become obvious that people just don't have chemical problems. So, maybe [music] now it's time to consider the biosemiotic scheme. This scheme might open our eyes to the major beneficial changes in our grasp [music] of ethical or philosophical thinking, and in particular, it might help us to develop a better environmental [music] policy.

[00:00:57]>> [applause]