John N. Deely

"This volume solves the problem of the subjectivity/objectivity couplet, making an indispensable contribution both to semiotics and to philosophy. American philosopher John Deely offers the first sustained and theoretically consistent interrogation of the means by which human understanding of 'reality' will be instrumental in the survival - or destruction - of planet Earth."--Jacket.

"This book is a coherent argument about the meaning of the term "postmodern" as it applies to philosophy at the opening of the twenty-first century. The author makes the case that the twentieth-century development of the doctrine of signs, commonly known as semiotics, represents the positive essential thrust giving birth to a postmodern era of philosophy, as clean a break with modern thought as modern thought was with Latin scholasticism in the time of Galileo, Poinsot, and Descartes - but with a difference. Contrary to what the author dismisses as false claims of postmodernity, the work shows that what is truly postmodern in philosophy both goes beyond modernity and recovers philosophy's past in a renewed understanding of the human condition. The "problem of the external world," which modern philosophy began by creating, postmodern philosophy begins by revealing as a quasi-error. The book concludes with a philosophical dialogue revealing the inadequacy to the postmodern situation of a simple return to any past form of "realism," and explaining why the postmodern situation calls for a new definition of human being as "the semiotic animal.""--Jacket.

"In 1982, the author of this book issued a "promissory note" of just the sort that analytic philosophers of the twentieth century have led us to expect will come to nothing. This particular "note" occurred as a passing remark in the concluding chapter of his Introducing Semiotic (Indiana University Press) to the effect that it would be possible to establish the classical distinction between sense and intellect by means of the analysis of the role of relations in the action of signs.". "Provoked by the remark of a colleague that, could this promissory note be fulfilled, it would provide "the first essay worth reading on the subject since the days of Locke and Hume," Deely decided to break with the analytic tradition of leaving promissory notes unfulfilled and to develop the alleged possible proof in full.". "A colloquium convened by Professor Norma Tasca, in the Fall of 1995 in Porto, Portugal, provided Deely with the occasion. His lengthy essay for the occasion, ponderously titled "The Intersemiosis of Perception and Understanding," became the initial draft of this book.". "Especially in the circles of English-speaking philosophers, where a mere difference of degree between animal intelligence and human understanding has come to be largely taken for granted and philosophy has been reduced to a play of linguistic signs without regard for the dependency of those signs upon other signs whose play is far from linguistic, the work is bound to stimulate considerable debate."--BOOK JACKET.

Recently widowed March Cantrell must deal with her husband's death while trying to escape the constant interference from her well meaning grown-up children. All her children, that is, apart from Molly. March discovers that the new man she's dating, Spider Olsen, is much older than her daughter - and believes the relationship is doomed to failure. However, any attempt to talk to Molly only drives them further apart. Meanwhile, March's sons are fighting for control of the family business. In order to heal the growing rifts between them all, the family decides to spend Christmas at their mountain home in Lake Tahoe. But whilst out skiing, March finds herself stranded with a young man called Rio and is surprised to discover that she is attracted to him ...