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Charles Morris and the Behavioral Foundations of Semiotics

  • Roland Posner
Chapter
Part of the Topics in Contemporary Semiotics book series (TICSE)

Abstract

Charles W. Morris1 studied psychology at the University of Chicago in the early 1920s and originally planned on a career in psychiatry. He wanted to learn why and how human beings act so that he would later be able to help them. These goals went through his mind when he was sitting in a car one evening, waiting for his good friend, Bauhaus artist Lászò Moholy-Nagy. Suddenly it became clear to Morris that human action is unthinkable without sign processes and evaluations. How could he become a good psychiatrist without acquiring a theoretical understanding of signs and values himself?

Keywords

Main Road Orientation Stimulus Contact Sense Orientation Property Distance Sense 
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© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1987

Authors and Affiliations

  • Roland Posner
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of LinguisticsTechnical University of BerlinBerlinWest Germany
  2. 2.Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social SciencesWassenaarThe Netherlands

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