Abstract
An important step towards a scientific understanding of complex systems will be the objectification and quantification of information that carries semantics, i.e., sense and meaning. In this paper a concept is developed according to which the general aspects of semantics—such as novelty, pragmatic relevance, selectivity, complexity and others—are understood as elements of a “semantic code”. However, in contrast to its traditional usage, the term “code” does not refer to a set of rules for assignment or translation of symbols, but rather to a reservoir of value elements, from which the recipient configures a value scale for the evaluation of semantic information. A quantitative measure for the value scale is proposed.
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Here the two terms sense and meaning are used synonymously, and the distinction between them that is usual in linguistic philosophy is not retained.
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Küppers, BO. (2013). Elements of a Semantic Code. In: Küppers, BO., Hahn, U., Artmann, S. (eds) Evolution of Semantic Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34997-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34997-3_4
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