Agency and Consciousness in Discourse: Self-Other Dynamics as a Complex System

Description

In the past two decades there has been considerable interest in the ways in which subjects are positioned in discursive practice. This interest has entailed a focus on the role of language and discourse in the processes in and through which subjects are constituted in discourse. However, questions of agency and how it relates to consciousness have received less attention. This book explores the ways in which agency and consciousness are created through transactions between self and other. The book argues that it is necessary to regard body-brain interactions in the context of the social and discursive practices which act upon human bodies. These issues of agency and individuation are explored in relation to infant semiosis, as well as in relation to children's symbolic play. Thibault looks at the importance of the self-referential moral conscience in relation to the interpersonal dimension of all acts of meaning making. This conscience is also connected to the development of a self-referential viewpoint that the book argues is connected to the ecosocial semiotic systems of thinking about consciousness as a complex system operating on many different levels. The author discusses and

Paul J. Thibault is Professor in Linguistics and Media Communication, Agder University, Kristiansand, Norway.

"It is highly commendable that Thibault has really provided a new way of thinking and talking about human semiosis." -- The Linguist List, May 2005 -- The Linguist List mention- Book News Inc./ August 2007