Biosemiotics

13/02/2025

Exploring the Biosemiotic Glossary: The Lower Semiotic Threshold

This month, we continue our exploration of the Biosemiotic Glossary Project, an initiative dedicated to refining key concepts in biosemiotics. Today’s focus? The Lower Semiotic Threshold, the point where non-semiotic processes give rise to semiosis—the realm of signs and meaning.
What is the Lower Semiotic Threshold?

First introduced by Umberto Eco (1976), the semiotic threshold distinguishes semiotic from non-semiotic processes. Biosemiotics has further developed this concept, particularly regarding the lower semiotic threshold, which defines the minimal conditions for semiosis to occur.

🔹 The lower semiotic threshold marks the emergence of sign action in biological systems. It separates simple physical interactions from genuine semiotic activity, where an organism not only reacts but interprets its environment.
🔹 Where does semiosis begin? Some argue that semiosis requires memory, self-replication, recognition, and agency, while others adopt a broader perspective, extending sign-action into fundamental biological processes.
🔹 The threshold is not fixed. Research has progressively lowered this boundary, expanding our understanding of life’s semiotic nature—from cells and bacteria to the origin of life itself.

Can the ability to interpret and respond to signs exist at the molecular level?

Revisiting the Semiotic Threshold in Biosemiotics

A survey of biosemiotic researchers (Rodríguez Higuera & Kull, 2017) revealed diverse perspectives on the lower semiotic threshold. Some key insights include:

✔️ The Cell as the Minimal Semiotic Unit – Some biosemioticians argue that semiosis begins with the first living cells, as their membranes allow them to distinguish between internal and external environments.
✔️ Protosemiosis – Others suggest an even lower threshold, where prebiotic chemical interactions may exhibit proto-semiotic properties—laying the foundation for the evolution of semiosis.
✔️ The Challenge of Pansemiotism – If we keep lowering the threshold, does everything become semiotic? Some argue that extending semiosis too far blurs the distinction between life and non-life.

Read more:
👉 The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: The Semiotic Threshold

Where is the Biosemiotic Threshold?

Both Ľudmila Lacková Bennett and Nicola Zengiaro explore the "biosemiotic threshold", questioning where semiosis begins in biological systems.

🔹 Ľudmila Bennett (Language of Life, 2025) applies Peircean semiotics to molecular biology, showing how genetic expression and protein folding function as interpretative processes, suggesting that semiosis emerges at the core of life’s biochemical structures.
[Read it here](https://www.peterlang.com/document/1490492) (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303264721001660)

🔹 Nicola Zengiaro (Exploring Life’s Boundaries, 2025) examines the conceptual and biological challenges of defining life, arguing that semiosis is a fundamental trait of living organisms and that the "threshold between life and non-life" remains fluid and contested.
[Read it here](https://sciendo.com/es/article/10.2478/lf-2024-0024) (https://metatheoria.unq.edu.ar/index.php/m/article/view/365)

💬 Where do you think the boundary between "non-semiotic and semiotic processes" lies? Drop your thoughts below! ⬇️

06/02/2025

Exploring the Biosemiotic Glossary: AGENCY

This month, we’re taking a closer look at the "Biosemiotic Glossary Project", an initiative launched in 2014 by Biosemiotics editors, including Morten Tønnessen, to refine and expand key concepts in the field. The project has two main goals:
1️⃣ To clarify and standardize biosemiotic terminology, making it more accessible to newcomers.
2️⃣ To encourage theoretical development by sparking discussion within the biosemiotic community.
Our focus today is on agency, a crucial concept in biosemiotics that has been the subject of evolving debates and perspectives.

What Does Biosemiotics Mean by “Agency”? [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-015-9229-0]

In the Biosemiotic Glossary Project, Morten Tønnessen (2015) outlined four essential features of agency:
✔️ Goal-directedness – Agents exhibit behavior that follows certain objectives.
✔️ Self-governance – Actions are regulated internally, rather than being purely reactive.
✔️ Semiosis – Agency involves interpreting signs from the environment.
✔️ Choice of action – There is an element of decision-making or flexibility in responses.

Tønnessen categorized agents at different levels:
🔹 Sub-organismic (e.g., organelles, cells)
🔹 Organismic (e.g., whole organisms)
🔹 Super-organismic (e.g., ecological systems, social groups)

This perspective establishes agency as a core feature of biological life, but also raises fundamental questions: Does agency require consciousness? Can non-living systems possess agency?

New Perspectives: Agency and Closure

A more recent article by Jana Švorcová and Anton Markoš (2023) shifts the focus to the role of closure—the selective boundaries that define life. They argue that agency emerges from closure:
➡️ First-order closures (cell membranes) establish an internal world distinct from the external environment.
➡️ Second-order closures (cellular communities, ecosystems) allow for higher-level interactions and coordination.

Key Insights from Švorcová & Markoš: [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-023-09520-3]

➡️ Agency is not merely a cognitive property—it is a structural condition of life.
➡️ Cells, bacteria, and multicellular organisms act as agents because they maintain a semiotic boundary that enables them to interpret and respond to their surroundings.
➡️ The biosphere itself can be seen as an interwoven network of second-order closures, where agency is distributed across scales.

This biosemiotic view connects agency with "semiotic freedom", suggesting that even simple organisms actively interpret their environments. This challenges traditional mechanistic models of life, proposing instead that all living beings are active participants in their own world-building.

What do you think?

- Does agency require cognition?
- How do other disciplines define it?
- Can agency extend beyond life itself?

If you found this discussion on agency fascinating, check out this Special Issue: "Agency and the (Built) Environment" (Biosemiotics, 2022), edited by Tim Ireland & Paul Cobley: [https://link.springer.com/journal/12304/volumes-and-issues/15-2]. Jana Švorcová is also the author of the book "Organismal Agency", here is the link: [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-53626-7]

What do you think? Can biosemiotics help us rethink agency in ecosystems and the natural world? Share your thoughts below! ⬇️

30/01/2025

Spotlight on biosemiotician Terrence Deacon at Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies NASS 2025!
We're thrilled to announce that Terrence Deacon, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, will be participating in the upcoming 14th Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies held in Tallinn, Estonia, from June 11–13, 2025. The theme of the event, Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence, perfectly aligns with Deacon’s groundbreaking work in biosemiotics.

A Revolutionary Debate in Biosemiotics:
Deacon’s 2021 target article, "How Molecules Became Signs", has sparked one of the most intense debates in the field. His proposal of the "autogen model", a thought experiment to explain the natural emergence of semiotic processes at the molecular level, has been both celebrated and critiqued by the academic community. Here's a chronological summary of the key contributions to this debate for our readers:

1️⃣ Terrence Deacon’s Initial Article (2021):
Deacon proposed the autogen model as a minimal system where reciprocal catalysis and self-assembly exhibit semiotic processes. This viral-based model challenges traditional life-origin theories like the RNA world hypothesis. Read his article [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09453-9).

2️⃣ Donald Favareau’s Commentary (2021):
Favareau praised Deacon for tackling the "hard problem" of biosemiotics, emphasizing its alignment with Peirce’s semiotic framework. However, he noted the need for a clearer mechanism for intrinsic system-driven ruptures in the autogen model. Read his insights [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09461-9).

3️⃣ Tom Froese’s Critique (2022):
Froese questioned the lack of *intrinsic normativity* in Deacon’s model, arguing that the autogen depends too heavily on external disruptions for semiotic activity. He suggested exploring enactive and autopoietic approaches for grounding normativity. Full commentary [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09467-3).

4️⃣ Cliff Joslyn’s Analysis (2022):
Joslyn highlighted the innovative nature of the autogen model but raised concerns about the physical plausibility and biochemical evidence for such systems. He questioned how autogens transition into more complex semiotic processes. Details [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09469-1).

5️⃣ Deacon’s Response (2023):
In his reply to the critiques, Deacon defended the *autogen model* by emphasizing its simplicity and ability to expose assumptions in alternative theories. He addressed the concerns over normativity and reaffirmed the empirical plausibility of his model. Read his full response [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09527-w).

What are your thoughts on Deacon’s model? Is it a step forward in explaining life’s semiotic origins, or does it oversimplify a complex problem? Let’s discuss below! 👇

Stay tuned for more updates from NASS 2025 and join the conversation about the cutting edge of semiotic studies.

23/01/2025

Discover the History of the Biosemiotics Editorial Board

Today, we’re excited to share insights from Alexei A. Sharov’s reflections on the editorial journey of Biosemiotics, published in his latest editorial piece.
Founded in 2008 by Marcello Barbieri, the journal has grown into a leading platform bridging biology and semiotics. Sharov details the evolution of the editorial team—from the founding years to the joint leadership with Timo Maran and Morten Tønnessen in 2015, and later with Yogi Hendlin in 2020.
Under their guidance, Biosemiotics launched innovative initiatives like the Biosemiotics Glossary Project and Annual Biosemiotic Achievement Award, while publishing impactful special issues and target articles that shaped the field.

Join us in celebrating the journal’s legacy and its role in advancing the study of life and semiosis!
Read more in Sharov’s editorial: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-024-09591-w

12/01/2025

"Uniting “reason” to “reasonableness” (Peirce, CP, 1.172; 5.4), listening to signs of life most often ignored (consciously/unconsciously), reconnecting with the otherness-oriented wisdom of myths, legends, fairy-tales and popular traditions whether from mainstream or indigenous cultures, or from the surrounding universe, global semiotics recovers the alterity dimension of signs and signifying processes."

Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio's Target Article now published in Biosemiotics

We discuss how biosemiotics sheds light on a problem that characterizes the social reproduction system today in globalisation, how social and political systems threaten life on the planet. These reflections engage global semiotics developed as semioethics where “ethics” resounds as entanglement ...

08/01/2025

New Resource for those interested in Robert Rosen's work: https://www.rosenlife.org/collection

26/11/2024

The 25th Annual Gatherings in Biosemiotics (GIBS)

In Rotterdam, The Netherlands

25-29 August, 2025

The Gatherings in Biosemiotics is the annual meeting of world scholars studying sign processes in living systems. Since 2001, these meetings have taken place, and they also serve as the annual meeting of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS).

On behalf of the Feral Ecologies Lab, Erasmus School of Philosophy, and the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University Rotterdam welcomes researchers in any academic discipline with an interest in biosemiotics to join us in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the Silver Anniversary of GIBs.

The last possible date to submit your abstract is 17 March, 2025.
Please submit your abstract here: https://forms.gle/ABVBTJKsqZurxZY87

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

As always, we welcome paper proposals on all themes in biosemiotics, semiotic concepts and models of living systems. Proposals related to these themes are especially welcome:


Empirical work in biosemiotics:
EES, Eco-Evo-Devo methodologies and biosemiotics
Quantitative methodologies
Qualitative methodologies
Warm Data’s challenges to traditional biological methods (and biosemiotic aspects)
Biosemiotics in Ethology, Botany, and other Natural Sciences

Philosophy of biology & biosemiotics:
Biosemiotic Ethics
Umwelt Theory and Studies
Meriology, Taxa, and Biosemiotics
Biosemiotic interpretations of and contributions to Plant/Fungi Philosophy

Ecosemiotics and Human Institutions:
Luhmann, Social Systems Theory, and Biosemiotics
Simondon, Individuation, and Collective Systems
Environmental Justice dimensions of biosemiotics
Ecosemiotics of Climate Change
Schismogenesis and the Double Bind in Environmentalism
Cultural implications of biosemiotics
Indigenous biosemiotics

Applied Biosemiotics:
Applying biosemiotics to different fields/disciplines
Biosemiotics of Wild Food/Agriculture
Medical biosemiotics
Commercial biosemiotics

Peirce and Beyond:
Biosemiotics beyond traditional semiotics (including minor or upcoming authors)
Battles of typologies (e.g., Deacon’s Symbolic Species v. Stjernfelt’s Natural Propositions)
Contributions of other disciplines to semiotics/semiotic approaches to design, architecture, human sensory perception, non-western forms of perceiving, etc.



Centrally located in Europe with direct flights to Schiphol from all over the world, and Amsterdam just a 40 minute train ride away, Rotterdam is easily accessible. Trains from the airport to central Rotterdam take less than 30 minutes and run every 15 minutes. High-speed rail runs from Paris (2h 30m), London (3h 15m), and Brussels (1h 10m) straight to Rotterdam.

Conveners: Yogi Hale Hendlin and Constantijn-Alexander Kusters, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Please address questions to: [email protected]

11/09/2024

Photo gallery of Biosemiotics at the 16th World Congress of the IASS/AIS:

Authors, associate editors and members of our editorial board convened at University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Applied Linguistics. They had the opportunity to network with members of fellow journals during the 16th World Congress of the IASS/AIS (September 2-6). Our journal is thriving thanks to the semiotic community supporting it. Thank you!

We also remind you that our brand-new special issue is out: Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology.

04/09/2024

Celebrating the great Kalevi Kull 🥂

16/08/2024

Snapshots from Annual Gatherings in Biosemiotics 2024:

Thirty five colleagues from around the world gathered virtually and in situ at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This hybrid conference took place between June 17-21, considering the role of global geopolitical contexts in biosemiotics.

The Global South was proposed as the focal topic the agenda, bringing together colleagues from 14 countries, including Zimbabwe, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Czechia, The Netherlands, Estonia, Norway, the United States of America, Mexico, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Italy.

A big shout-out to PhD student Heidi Campana Piva for winning the Biosemiotic Achievement Award for the Year (2023), for her published paper “Semiotically Mediated Human-Bee Communication in the Practice of Brazilian Meliponiculture”. Congratulations!

The next (25th) Gatherings in Biosemiotics will take place in July 2025 at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. We are very looking forward to seeing you there as well!

31/07/2024

The new Special Issue on Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology is live

It is an exceptional collection of papers from renowned scholars. Please spread the word.

The English term ‘phenomenon’ relies ultimately on the Greek root phainein, ‘to appear’; starting from here, phenomenology has explored and continues to ...

25/06/2024

The journal of Biosemiotics now has an impact factor of 2.1. Congratulations team! Keep submitting!

29/04/2024

The Special Issue The Biosemiotics of Waste is now complete and available for reading online:

With the symbolic shadow of colonial efficiency looming large on the semiotic landscape of all life, pollution occupies and influences the agency of (nearly) ...

21/04/2024

https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/nydeclaration/background

Recent rapid advances The last ten years have been an exciting time for the science of animal cognition and behavior. Striking new results have hinted at surprisingly rich inner lives in a very wide range of other animals, including many invertebrates, driving renewed debate about animal

05/03/2024

Job Posting for Applied Biosemiotics:

We are seeking a dynamic, insightful and results-driven strategy consultant to join Luminous. As Consultant, you will play a pivotal role empowering organizations in the life sciences. You will drive project deliverables & client success around insights, strategies and capabilities that lead to better outcomes for patients, business, and society. This role requires a blend of project ex*****on, insight, foresight and strategic skills, and excellence in presentation and client management. We are looking for experience in life sciences and a demonstrated passion for serving as a trusted partner to clients. We are also seeking people who are genuine, courageous and able to drive business growth. In this role you will have the opportunity to shape thought leadership in healthcare and the life sciences, bringing transformative insights to drive health and business outcomes on behalf of manufacturers of therapies and devices. You will be part of a dynamic global team applying models from behavioral science, biosemiotics and systems thinking to identify how the ecosystem of care needs to change to improve patient lives.

For more about us and what we look for visit

Luminous is a consultancy that enables transformation in the life sciences industry through insights, strategies, and capabilities.

20/02/2024

24th GATHERINGS IN BIOSEMIOTICS: FINAL CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Online and face-to-face

Held under the auspices of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies, the 24th annual Gathering will take place at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. As this Gathering will be held in the Global South, it might offer a good opportunity to consider the role of global geopolitical contexts in biosemiotics. As much as one would expect biology to be a study that does not need to consider context, or perhaps it does, ecosemiotics, the relationship between biosemiotics and culture, and the emergence of biosemiotics as a field of study itself may benefit from considering different contexts. Apart from the normal presentations related to biosemiotics, we therefore in particular welcome reflections on geopolitical, cultural, and social contexts in biosemiotics.

The Gatherings in Biosemiotics is the annual meeting for the study of sign processes in life processes. Researchers interested in the intersection of meaning-making and biology are the backbone of our
interdisciplinary undertaking, and we welcome thoughtful submissions from scholars in any discipline relevant to a deeper understanding of the role of signs in life.

The conference will take place from 17-21 June 2024.

We particularly welcome conference presentations in the following research areas:

Biosemiotic approaches to biology
Biosemiotics and ecosemiotics in the Global South
The implications of biosemiotics to philosophy and the humanities
History and epistemology of biosemiotics
Semiotic approaches in theoretical biology
Evolution and ontogeny of semiotic mechanisms
Modelling of semiosis and semiotic networks
Endosemiotics
Interspecies semiosis
Experimental biosemiotics
Ecosemiotics
Biosemiotics of health and disease
Umwelt studies and phenomenology
Cultural implications of biosemiotics
Abstracts should be 300-600 words, with your full name, email address and affiliation below the title, and submitted as single-space, single page files in the doc, docx, rtf, or odt formats (please do not send PDFs), with a maximum of three references permitted. All abstracts should be e-mailed to [email protected] no later than 4 March 2024. Please filename the document with your surname in capital letters, for example: SEBEOK.doc. Please also indicate if you will be attending online or in person.

The tentative notification of acceptance date will be early March 2024. Additional information about the Gathering can be found at https://www.ufs.ac.za/conferences/conference/gatherings-in-biosemiotics-2024

Looking forward to seeing you at the Gathering!

The Organizing Committee of the 24th Annual Gatherings in Biosemiotics

ISBS Official Webpage: www.biosemiotics.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Biosemiotics/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Biosemiotics_J

ABOUT

The ISBS’s task is to promote biosemiotic research and strengthen the links of researchers across the world.

Biosemiotics is an interdisciplinary research agenda investigating the myriad forms of communication and signification found in and between living systems. It is thus the study of representation, meaning, sense, and the biological significance of codes and sign processes, from genetic code sequences...