Le béhaviorisme sémiotique de Jakob von Uexküll

Abstract

The article offers a contextualization of the theories of the Baltic biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944). Uexküll’s works show convergence points both with non-physicalist versions of behaviorism and with neo-vitalism. Moreover, the importance of his Kantian background suggests relativizing the alleged break between his first publications on invertebrates and his later theoretical work focusing on the notion of Umwelt and on a “semiotic” reinterpretation of biology. However it appears that this semiotics, and the associated concepts of sign (Zeichen), signification (Bedeutung), characteristic (Merkmal), proxy (Repräsentant), are not structured into a coherent program. In a historical context where it was difficult for the still emerging biology to define its specific character between the mechanism epitomized by Loeb and a persistent vitalism, semiotics made it first and foremost possible to model the attributes of life with a minimum explanation.

Keywords

• behaviorism
• biosemiotics
• boundary-concepts
• neo-Kantianism
• semiotics
• Uexküll (Jakob von)