Possible (Life)World Semiotics : On Inter-Textual Formations Amongst Advertising, Literary and Filmic Texts
Part of : Γράμμα : περιοδικό θεωρίας και κριτικής ; Vol.20, 2012, pages 206-220
Issue:
Pages:
206-220
Author:
Abstract:
The theory of counterfactuals has been widely applied in economic1 andmanagement sciences, including marketing.2Among the various facets ofthe counterfactuals literature that have been addressed by branches of philosophyand linguistics, such as philosophy of language, logical semantics,linguistic semantics, modal fictionalism, pragmatics, I am focusing on thespecific topic of possible worlds. In particular, by drawing on semantics,textual semiotics and rhetoric, I am addressing how fictive elements, embeddedin a fabular world and once conceived of as counterfactual, achieveto be actualized in advertising discourse as part of our cultural world. Byadopting Eco’s fundamental premise that our world is first and foremostculturally constituted, and by recruiting rhetoric as an essential complementof a hybrid semantic/textual semiotic approach, I venture into thefantasy island of cinematic and literary fiction, only to show that this andother possible worlds are not that far apart. The managerial applicationsfor brand genealogists, but also in terms of developing advertising textsby drawing on a combinatorial logic of properties and individuals fromfictive worlds, are highlighted as an addendum to the practical implicationsof philosophical and semiotic theory.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
References (1):
- Arlo-Costa, Horacio. “The Logic of Conditionals”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Ed. E. N. Zalta. 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.Barker, Steve. “Counterfactuals”. Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Languageand Linguistics. Ed. A. Barber and R. T. Stainton. New York: Elsevier, 2010. 109-113. Print.Blakesley, David. The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. Illinois:Southern Illinois UP, 2003. Print.Bonomi, Andrea and Sandro Zucchi. “A Pragmatic Framework For Truth in Fiction”.Dialectica 57.2 (2003): 103-120. Print.Bordwell, David. Making Meaning: Inference and Interpretation in Cinema. Cambridge,Massachussets: Harvard UP, 1989. Print.Branigan, Edward. Narrative Comprehension and Film. London: Routledge, 1992.Print.Buckland, Warren. The Cognitive Semiotics of Film. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004.Print.Cook, Guy. The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge, 1992. Print.Copeland, Jack B. “The Genesis of Possible Worlds Semantics”. Journal of PhilosophicalLogic 31.2 (2001): 99-137. Print.Cresswell, Max J. “Modal Logic”. Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Languageand Linguistics. Ed. A. Barber and R. T. Stainton. New York: Elsevier, 2010. 465-471. Print.Devitt, Michael and Richard Hanley, eds. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophyof Language. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Print.Drummond, John I. Historical Dictionary of Husserl’s Philosophy. New York: Scarecrow,2007. Print.Eco, Umberto. Lector in fabula. Paris: Grasset and Fasquelle, 1985. Print.––. Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,1986. Print.Frogel, Shai. The Rhetoric of Philosophy. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, 2005.Print.GHD Rapunzel commercial. 2010. Web. 15 Oct 2012.“GHD hands direct marketing account to PAA”. 2010. Web. 15 Oct 2012.Glezakou, Stavroula. “Truth and Reference in Fiction”. Routledge Companion to thePhilosophy of Language. Ed. G. Russell and D. G. Fara. London: Routledge, 2012.177-186. Print.Grive, Charles. “Les universaux de textes”. Littérature 30 (1978): 25-50. Print.Groupe μ. Rhétorique générale. Larousse: Paris, 1970. Print.Hackley, Chris. Marketing and Social Construction: Exploring the Rhetoric of ManagedConsumption. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.Hale, Bob. “Realism and its Opponents”. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language.Ed. Bob Hale and Crispin Wright. Massachussets: Blackwell, 1999. 279-308.Print.––. “Modality”. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language. Ed. Bob Hale and CrispinWright. Massachussets: Blackwell, 1999. 487-514. Print.Hintikka, Jaakko. Models for Modalities. Holland: D. Reidel, 1969. Print.Holbrook, Morris and Elizabeth C. Hirschman. Postmodern Consumer Research. London:Sage, 1992. Print.Holt, Douglas B. How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding.Massachussets: Harvard Business School, 2004. Print.Holt, Jason. “Terminator-Fear and the Paradox of Fiction”. The Philosophy of Science-Fiction Film. Ed. Steven M. Sanders. Kentucky: Kentucky UP, 2008. 133-152.Print.Jackson, Frank. “Conditionals”. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Language.Ed. M. Devitt and R. Hanley. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. 212-224. Print.King, Jeremy. “Anaphora: Philosophical Aspects”. Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophyof Language and Linguistics. Ed. A. Barber and R. T. Stainton. New York: Elsevier,2006. 19-21. Print.Klinkenberg, Jean-Marie. Le sens rhétorique: Essais de sémantique littéraire. Toronto:Editions du Gref, 1990. Print.Kripke, Saul. Naming and Necessity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1992.Print.Kristeva, Julia. Le texte du roman. Hague: Mouton, 1970. Print.Lewis, David. Counterfactuals. Massachussets: Blackwell, 1973. Print.––. Philosophical Papers. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Print.McCoy, Marina. Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2008. Print.McGill, Ann. “Counterfactual Reasoning on Causal Judgments: Implications for Marketing”.Psychology & Marketing 17.4 (2000): 323-343. Print.Michelini, Ann N., ed. Plato as Author: The Rhetoric of Philosophy. Boston: CincinattiClassical Studies, 2003. Print.Mick, David G. and Edward F. McQuarrie. “Narrative and Persuasion in Narrative Advertising”.Journal of Consumer Research 37 (2010): 368-392. Print.Menzies, Peter. “Counterfactual Theories of Causation”. The Stanford Encyclopediaof Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Web. 2 Oct 2012.Mulhall, Stephen. On Film. London: Routledge, 2008. Print.Neale, Stephen. “Pronouns and Anaphora”. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophyof Language. Ed. M. Devitt and R. Hanley. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. 335-373. Print.Nolan, Daniel. “Modal Fictionalism”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.E. N. Zalta. Web. 10 Oct 2012.––. “Possible World Semantics”. Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Language.Ed. Gillian Russell and Della Graff Fara, London: Routledge, 2012. 242-251.Print.Plett, Heinrich T. Inter-Textuality. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991. Print.Rastier, Francois. “La microsémantique”. 2005. Web. 17 Sep 2012.––. “Mésosémantique et syntaxe”. 2005. Web. 17 Sep 2012.––. “La macrosémantique”. 2005. Web. 17 Sep 2012.––. “Passages et parcours dans l’intertexte”. Nouvelles approches en linguistique textuelle.Proc. 2008. Web. 19 Sep 2012.Read, Rupert and Jerry Goodenough. Film and Philosophy: Essays in Cinema afterWittgenstein and Cavell. London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2005. Print.Richard, Mark. “Propositional Attitudes”. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language.Ed. Bob Hale and Crispin Wright. Massachussets: Blackwell, 1999. 197-226.Print.––. “Propositional Attitude Ascription”. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophyof Language. Ed. M. Devitt and R. Hanley. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. 186-211.Print.Rosenthal, Victor and Yves-Marie Visetti. “Sens et temps de la gestalt”. Intellectica28.1 (1999): 147-227. Print.Rossolatos, George. Brand Equity Planning with Structuralist Rhetorical Semiotics.Vol. I.Washington: Amazon Press, 2012. Print.Sanders, Steven M., ed. The Philosophy of Science-Fiction Film. Kentucky: KentuckyUP, 2008. Print.Sanger, Keith. The Language of Fiction. London: Routledge, 1998. Print.Sells, Peter. “Anaphora”. Concise Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Language. Ed.Peter Lamarque. New York: Pergamon/Elsevier, 1997: 207-214. Print.Sloane, Thomas, ed. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 2001. Print.Smith, Barry. “Frege and Husserl: The Ontology of Reference”. Journal of the BritishSociety for Phenomenology 9.2 (1978): 111-125. Print.Smith, Barry and David Woodruff Smith, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Husserl.Massachussets: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.Stalnaker, Robert. “Reference and Necessity”. A Companion to the Philosophy of Language.Ed. Bob Hale and Crispin Wright. Massachussets: Blackwell, 1999. 534-554. Print.Stern, Josef. “Figurative Language”. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy ofLanguage, Ed. M. Devitt and R. Hanley. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. 168-185.Print.Thomasson, Ame L. Fiction and Metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
