Bookshelf
| can't find it |

| browse books |
books
 

| book details |

Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion, and Language

By (author) Wolfgang Wildgen

| on special |

normal price: R 5 506.95

Price: R 4 955.95


| book description |

In the present book, the starting line is defined by a morphogenetic perspective on human communication and culture. The focus is on visual communication, music, religion (myth), and language, i.e., on the “symbolic forms” at the heart of human cultures (Ernst Cassirer). The term “morphogenesis” has more precisely the meaning given by René Thom (1923-2002) in his book “Morphogenesis and Structural Stability” (1972) and the notions of “self-organization” and cooperation of subsystems in the “Synergetics” of Hermann Haken (1927- ). The naturalization of communication and cultural phenomena is the favored strategy, but the major results of the involved disciplines (art history, music theory, religious science, and linguistics) are respected. Visual art from the Paleolithic to modernity stands for visual communication. The present book focuses on studies of classical painting and sculpture (e.g., Leonardo da Vinci, William Turner, and Henry Moore) and modern art (e.g., Jackson Pollock and Joseph Beuys). Musical morphogenesis embraces classical music (from J. S. Bach to Arnold Schönberg) and political songwriting (Bob Dylan, Leonhard Cohen). The myths of pre-literary societies show the effects of self-organization in the re-assembly (bricolage) of traditions. Classical polytheistic and monotheistic religions demonstrate the unfolding of basic germs (religious attractors) and their reduction in periods of crisis, the self-organization of complex religious networks, and rationalized macro-structures (in theologies). Significant tendencies are analyzed in the case of Buddhism and Christianism. Eventually, a holistic view of symbolic communication and human culture emerges based on state-of-the-art in evolutionary biology, cognitive science, linguistics, and semiotics (philosophy of symbolic forms).

| product details |



Normally shipped | This title will take longer to obtain, and should be delivered in 6-8 weeks
Publisher | Springer International Publishing AG
Published date | 2 Mar 2023
Language |
Format | Hardback
Pages | 208
Dimensions | 235 x 155 x 0mm (L x W x H)
Weight | 0g
ISBN | 978-3-0312-5650-9
Readership Age |
BISAC | science / system theory


| other options |



Normally shipped | Available from overseas. Usually dispatched in 14 days
Readership Age |
Normal Price | R 7 172.95
Price | R 6 454.95 | on special |



| your trolley |

To view the items in your trolley please sign in.

| sign in |

| specials |

The Colonialist: The Vision of Cecil Rhodes

William Kelleher Storey
Paperback / softback
528 pages
was: R 425.95
now: R 382.95
Usually dispatched in 6-12 days

This first comprehensive biography of Cecil Rhodes in a generation illuminates Rhodes’s vision for the expansion of imperialism in southern Africa, connecting politics and industry to internal development, and examines how this fueled a lasting, white-dominated colonial society.

The Memory Collectors: A Novel

Dete Meserve
Paperback / softback
320 pages


Enquiries only


The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future

Mustafa Suleyman
Paperback / softback
352 pages
was: R 295.95
now: R 265.95
Stock is usually dispatched in 6-12 days from date of order


Survive the AI Apocalypse: A guide for solutionists

Bronwyn Williams
Paperback / softback
232 pages
was: R 340.95
now: R 306.95
Forthcoming

Look around you is anything real or normal any more? News, images and videos created by AI are everywhere.