Biosemiotics--a paradigm of biology. Biological signalling on the verge of deterministic chaos

Abstract

Biosemiotics is presented as an interdisciplinary approach to the diversity and irregularity of living systems. Emphasizing the interconnectedness by a multitude of signals as a hallmark of life, it goes beyond the scope of a new discipline. As an overarching concept and a new perspective it should be able to integrate a vast array of biological phenomena which till now appear unrelated or incompatible. The basic tenet is that biology, on all levels from molecular biology to ecosystems, can be viewed and investigated as communication, and that life processes can be defined as sign-mediated interaction. Biology thus is, in itself and in all its aspects, natural semiotics with a pronounced proximity to deterministic chaos. Pervading all of biology, the signal is a viable key and a practically feasible access to the understanding of life.