{"id":10076,"date":"2026-01-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10076"},"modified":"2025-10-10T18:35:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T18:35:44","slug":"looking-at-boris-uspenskijs-article-2017-semiotics-and-culture-part-5-of-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10076","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Boris Uspenskij’s Article (2017) “Semiotics and Culture”\u00a0\u00a0(Part 5 of 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0697 Historical and cosmological consciousness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the first asterisk (1), Uspenskij discusses past and present in a detailed manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His discussion traces the contours of the specifying sign-relation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0698 The actuality of {time in the form of a literary text (or is it a semiological3a<\/sub> structuralist3b<\/sub> model2c<\/sub> based on the text2bf<\/sub>?)2af<\/sub> (SOi<\/sub>) [entangling] historical and cosmological consciousness2am<\/sub> (SVs<\/sub>)} stands for the actuality of {cognition based on past and present2bm<\/sub> (SOs<\/sub>)[substantiating] the present as a result of planning, as well as the present as a situation produced by cosmological antecedents2bf<\/sub> (SVe<\/sub>)} in regards to cultural – civilizational – inquiry3b<\/sub>operating on the potential of ‘the presence of past and present’1b<\/sub> (SIs<\/sub>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0699 What does the term, “consciousness” imply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider Julian Jaynes’s use of the term in Looking at Julian Jaynes’s Book (1976) The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind<\/em> (Razie Mah’s blog for October 2025 and appearing in the e-book, Synaesthesia and the Bicameral Mind in Human Evolution,<\/em> available at smashwords and other e-book venues).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0700 Consciousness<\/em> involves reflective thought<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the ‘presence1b<\/sub>‘ that cognition2bm<\/sub> emerges from (and situates) is reflective, as well as representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0701 What does this imply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spoken word<\/em> labels a past event<\/em>.  Does that spoken word<\/em> represent the past event?<\/em>  Does that spoken word<\/em> serve as an artifact that allows us to reflect upon what it represents?<\/em>  Does that reflection<\/em> eventually distort the representation?<\/em>  Can we then reflect upon that distortion?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can, only if we are “conscious”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0702 Spoken words<\/em> do not picture or point to their referents<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spoken words<\/em> invite us to create artifacts that validate their referents<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This applies to the spoken language2am<\/sub><\/em> that is fixed in time in the form of a literary text2af<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0703 As to the past leading to the present, Uspenskij identifies two styles (or “genres”) of representation and reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0704 Historical consciousness<\/em> sees one event following another in a complicated chain of causalities.  The continuity between past and present<\/em> is like a path that leads somewhere<\/em>.  We can extrapolate where we are going<\/em> (the future) by sensible construction<\/em> based on past events<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cosmological consciousness<\/em> testifies to a foundation event<\/em> that predicates what is to come<\/em> (the future).  Some call it “the cyclic view of history”.  With respect to a founding event, what is to come<\/em> is both our past and our present.  So, the cognitive structure takes on the feel of a house of mirrors.  One cannot plan ahead with conviction, but one can rely on symbolic reproduction to avoid or dodge cyclic catastrophes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0705 Both historical and cosmological awareness appear in all civilizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time as a literary form2af<\/sub> [entangles] the language of consciousness2am<\/sub>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0697 Historical and cosmological consciousness? After the first asterisk (1), Uspenskij discusses past and present in a detailed manner. His discussion traces the contours of the specifying sign-relation. 0698 The actuality of {time in the form of a literary text (or is it a semiological3a structuralist3b model2c based on the text2bf?)2af (SOi) [entangling] historical and cosmological consciousness2am (SVs)} stands for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[418],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Boris Uspenskij's Article (2017) "Semiotics and Culture"\u00a0\u00a0(Part 5 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Boris Uspenskij's Article (2017) "Semiotics and Culture"\u00a0\u00a0(Part 5 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"0697 Historical and cosmological consciousness? 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