TENSIVE SEMIOTICS: AN IMMANENT THEORY OF AFFECTION

Abstract

This article puts forth some reflections that defend the hypothesis of an immanent epistemology of human knowledge, named as discursive epistemology. Its immanent status rivals the often realist epistemology of natural sciences, as well as that of transcendental philosophies. This text is the fourth in a concert of ideas, whose first three installments are already published, or in the way of being published. All of them strive to justify such discursive epistemology. The first one discusses the immanent epistemology born from F. Saussure's principle of arbitrary and the Semiology that arose from it. It was then delineated by the principle of immanence developed by L. Hjelmslev's language theory, dealt with in our second act. The third movement shows the further development proposed by A. J. Greimas in his Semiotic theory. The progress of immanent theory and its heuristic effectiveness can be attested in C. Zilberberg's Tensive Semiotic theory precisely because it advances knowledge on the area that most challenges immanence: the area of affection and sensibility. This area is generally understood to be resistant to formalization and structure. It is seen as transcendent to an immanent grammar of affection. Zilberberg's Tensive Semiotic, in full accord with linguistic tradition and the hjelmslevian and greimasian principles of immanence, illustrates the governance of this discursive epistemology.