Semisimbolismo: ¿concepto inútil para la imagen?

With this provocative title, the aim of this article is to discuss the theoretical relevance and the practical effectiveness of a widely used concept in visual semiotics: “semi-symbolism”, which precisely arose from a reflection on the image and was later generalized to several fields, starting with theory, where, by the way, it has not found an undisputable epistemological position. Regarding its practical uses, semi-symbolism has not proven to contribute to a greater understanding of the concept it represents or the formulation of solid conclusions around this phenomenon. On the contrary, its isolated use weakens both its comprehension and application. In contrast, the solid conclusions, which result convincing in the analysis and vindicate “semi-symbolism” as an operational instrument, show their independent nature, signaling a precise definition of the concept. The general conclusion of this study could be that “semi-symbolism” works simply as a label, with all the virtues of every label (fixing ideas, serving pedagogy, etc.), but also with all its imperfections (such as the risk of emptiness, the temptation of a lovely repetition, the eagerness to fix a formal reference in a current of thought). In this context, a label can always be rebuilt, insofar it is given an incontestable theoretical status and an irrefutable heuristic capacity.