Sign(al)s: Living and Learning as Semiotic Engagement (text of inaugural lecture delivered 30/11/2005)

Cartesian mind‐body dualism, while often explicitly denied, has left a legacy of conceptions that remain highly influential in education. I argue that trends in both analytic and continental philosophy of language point towards a post‐Cartesian settlement in which the distinction between ‘signs’ and ‘signals’ is collapsed, and which thus construes all living (and learning) as semiotic engagement. I begin to explore the implications of such a view for learning theory, teaching and the curriculum, educational and social research, and broader social policy.