International Open Seminar on Semiotics: a Tribute to John Deely on the Fifth Anniversary of His Passing

The Institute for Philosophical Studies of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, the Lyceum Institute, the Deely Project, Saint Vincent College, the Iranian Society for Phenomenology at the Iranian Political Science Association, the International Association for Semiotics of Space and Time, the Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Semiotic Society of America, the American Maritain Association, the International Association for Semiotic Studies, the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies, the International Center for Semiotics and Intercultural Dialogue, Moscow State Academic University for the Humanities and the Mansarda Acesa are hereby delighted to welcome you to the official home page of the International Open Seminar on Semiotics: a Tribute to John Deely on the Fifth Anniversary of His Passing.

The occurrence of this seminar over the calendar year 2022 also marks the 80th anniversary of John's arrival. Although he would most certainly instruct us not to focus on celebrating his life, but instead on developing the Way of Signs, there seems to be no downside to accomplishing both of these tasks simultaneously. Hence, this seminar seeks to render homage to his genius and further develop his work. Professor Deely spent a lifetime studying semiotics and fostering a network of semioticians from around the planet. Hopefully, his mission is here dutifully echoed. We congregated a number of distinguished experts in the field of semiotics in a shared enterprise to provide a formative environment openly accessible to the general audience through a series of lectures on semiotics and its history, with particular care for Doctor Deely's historical perspective and the challenges presented to semiotics in the world today. Having done so, chances are that we matched Prof. John's aspiration for future generations to acknowledge the core significance of semiotics and its history for the evolution of human understanding.

Lectures are arranged into two modules. The first, comprising sessions on the legacy of semiotics, has been titled «Historical Module: From Early Latinity to the Last Postmodernity.» Here, including lectures on prominent figures in the history of the field, the emphasis is on the diachronic extension of semiotic development, meaning its historical path as a laboratory where the community of living inquirers is given the necessary instruments for casting eyes upon the future. The second, dealing with semiotics at cross‑thematic levels, has been titled «Systematic Module: De-Sign or Semiotics in Relation.» Now, involving issues such as space and time, cognition, ethnicity and digital education, attention is turned to the present, the synchronic scale of the issues challenging those not yet dead. Both strands constitute keystones for the refinement of human understanding and are, after all, inextricably connected. As Dr. Deely said,

_{«... synchrony as a temporal reality is a one-way movement into a limited future, in contrast with diachrony which not only arises from within synchrony but also invades it from a past before the synchrony in question began in the first place, and extends beyond that synchrony into a future accessible only to those who «come after» into the «land of the living.»}

_{Semiotics Seen Synchronically: The View as of 2010}

_{Chinese Semiotic Studies 4, no. 2 (2010), 15.}

_{An invaluable albeit not yet conclusive annotated bibliography of John Deely is freely accessible via ontology.co.}

Organized by 21 individuals—coming from Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Venezuela—affiliated with 12 institutions headquartered or first laid out in Brazil, Denmark, France, Iran, Italy, Portugal, Russia, and the United States of America—either of charity, research or higher education, of public trust or private ownership, either of regional or international profile—, the making of the IO2S Deely brought together more than 100 personalities.

As an international scholarly community of semioticians, we come literally from all over the planet: Albania, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czechia, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The persons involved in the IO2S provided the world with over 60 brilliant lectures, commentaries and discussions, backed up organizational efforts, and chaired our semiotic encounters. While not having intended to become an ordinary member of the Organizing Committee, the consensus of opinion favored our chairman William Passarini's resolve to award the title of honorary organizer to Dr. Nacho Sigal, for his year-round outstanding service to the IO2S Deely in his capacity as vice-secretary general of the International Association for Semiotic Studies.

The Organizing Committee heartily thanks all the individuals and organizations that took part in this initiative.