Theoretical background of semiotics of law as branch of knowledge

Abstract

In the article the theoretical background of Semiotics of Law is investigated. For this purpose the concept, object, subject, structure and functions of Semiotics as a branch of researches and autonomous science in the recent period of human development is determined. The author notes, that in the context of the transfer of methods of social and cultural semiotics at the legal framework deserves attention works of N.-B. Barb, P. Brandt, M. Hirschman, A. J. Hreymas, A. Grigoriev, W. Dressler, L. Hjelmslev, J. J. von Ikskyul, J. Kristeva, C. Kull, P. Prado Oropes, F. Salazar, T. Sebeok, A. B. Solomonik, Y. S. Stepanov, H. Telerman, E. Hall, U. Eco and other scientists, whose influence on the formation of semiotics as a methodological paradigm is difficult to overestimate. The author also notes, that Semiotics is traditionally defined as a field of interdisciplinary researches that studies signs and sign systems as a means of storing, transmission and processing of information in the whole world, nature, human thought and society, as the term is used to refer to sign theories of language and, in fact, certain sign systems. In the article the existence of contacts of Semiotics with the other autonomous sciences, including such sciences as linguistics, comparative psychology, ethology, computer science, mathematics, anthropology, religious studies, cartography, art history, sociology, political science, psychology, neurophysiology, cultural studies, art history, jurislinguistics and many others disciplines is demonstrated. Author also notes, that for some of them (comparative psychology, ethnology, social psychology, ethnography, ethics, aesthetics, the study of mass communication, psychology of personality and interpersonal relations, anthropology, ethnology, linguistics, synchronic and diachronic linguistics, theory and art history, religious studies, cognitive science, logic and epistemology, psychoanalyst theory) semiotics participated also in processes of the development and determined the directions of development that brings together philosophy, semiotics of culture and futurology. In the ХХ century Semiotics evolved in different directions, in particular, currently card of semiotics researches includes the following areas: general semiotics, biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, social semiotics, semiotics policy semiotics morality, semiotics religion, semiotics of culture, linguosemiotics, semiotics of concepts, semiotics logic, mathematical semiotics, computers semiotics, cognitive semiotics, mediasemiotics, semiotics of advertising, text semiotics, visual semiotics, semiotics of pictures, semiotics of cinema, semiotics of theater, musical semiotics, semiotics of architecture, semiotics of law and other. The importance of semiotic approach to solve some problems of Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence on the modern level of its development is described.