13. Meaning As A Process That Occurs In The Perceivable World

In modelling the categorisable, such as two domains: the material and the semiotic, semiosis is modelled as a process that goes on in the perceivable universe, in the same sense that galaxy formation and supernova explosions are processes that go on in the perceivable universe. Asking and answering the question ‘Why is there something instead of nothing?’ are processes that go on in the perceivable universe. Making meaning of the perceivable universe is something that organisms do, part of the universe recognising itself. Meaning is not of the categorisable domain of which meaning is made, nor does it transcend the domain of interactions (the perceivable universe) in which it occurs.

ChatGPT said:

Modelling Semiosis as a Process in the Universe

In modelling the categorisable — for example, by distinguishing domains such as the material and the semiotic — semiosis is itself modelled as a process occurring within the perceivable universe, in the same sense that galaxy formation or supernova explosions are processes occurring within the perceivable universe. Asking and answering the question “Why is there something rather than nothing?” are likewise processes within the universe — not external to it.

Meaning-making, then, is a process that organisms perform in the universe, not about it from outside. It is part of the universe recognising itself. Meaning does not belong to the domain of phenomena of which meaning is made, nor does it transcend the interactions through which it is constituted. It is immanent in the activity of semiosis: inseparable from the perceivable universe in which it arises and to which it refers.