Semiopoesis: Formation of Meaning in Molecular Genetics and Biosemiotics

Abstract

The article develops the idea of Yu. S. Stepanov (1971) that meaning is not an exclusive property of sign systems used by man, and it is present in biosystems. We consider it as one of the specific forms of manifestation of autopoiesis, namely, establishing interconnections between two systems, one of which is used for the other, either a plane of expression or a plane of content. This specification concerning the genetic code has already been named as codopoiesis (M. Barbieri, 2012). We introduce the new term, “semiopoiesis”, since it relies upon sign systems in general. From this point of view, the genetic code’s evolution can be viewed as a process of semiopoiesis – semiosis in its emerging. The increasing complexity of the organization leads to the autonomy of information and semiotic principles. Semiopoiesis, a complex of recursive self-referential operations of a semiotic system, becomes a form of the bio-world's dynamic organization when categories of meaning and purpose appear and become defining in it.