Ocula (May 2016)
Imminence-immanence. Une possible discussion à propos de l'épistémé sémiotique
Abstract
The concept and category of immanence are, as is well known, at the center, and the matrix of European structural semiotics, starting with Hjelmslev's work. The aim of this essay is to propose a dialogue on this topic, between semiotics, the philosophy of language, especially post-structural philosophy, in particular with Deleuze and Guattari, but also with Foucault. Deleuze, in particular, develops a concept of "radical immanence" inspired by Spinoza and the idea of expression, and sometimes compares it with the semiotic category of immanence (more epistemological and methodological than ontological). How can we adopt a critical viewpoint that is useful for semiotics itself, starting from this comparison? This essay revolves around, in fact, this attempt, which is admittedly provisional and was developed at different levels and at different moments; in dialogue with the disciplines of language, the human sciences and, more generally, with respect to the episteme from which they originated from, as described since the 1960s by Foucault.