The European Constitution: A Semiotics Analysis of Ideology, Identity and Global Commun in Present-Day Europe

This paper proposes an analysis of the European Constitution from the perspective of its conditions of possibility. The focus is on the conditions that subtend the European constitution, the conditions, the premises that make the European Constitution possible. In the present context of discourse “possibility” is understood in the sense of Kantian critique. But here critique is based on Reasonableness rather than on Reason—in fact a thesis orienting this essay is that the human being to survive and to survive well must quickly change from a rational animal into a reasonable animal. Is the European constitution possible? Where must we search for the necessary conditions that support the European constitution (1) in common historical and cultural traditions, in common practices, in common social behaviours or (2) merely in a shared decision, an accord, a contract, a convention? There exists a third possibility: the idea that Europe has no future without a European constitution founded on awareness that all European Nations participate in a common destiny, which in the era of globalization is the destiny the whole world, indeed of life over the whole planet. Such participation must be based on the logic of otherness and reasonableness of which the human being alone as a semiotic animal is capable. As a semiotic animal, that is, an animal capable of metasemiosis, reflection and critical consciousness, the human being is responsible for all of life over the planet.     

Convergence in British Cultural Policy: The Social,the Cultural,and the Economic

It is increasingly the case that cultural policy at all levels of governance is expected to address a suite of concerns much broader than those traditionally associated with the arts and creative practice. Indeed, in many nations, including most notably Britain, the concerns of cultural policy now embrace the economic and the social, as well as the cultural. In Britain, this convergence is occurring as part of a broader policy concern to ameliorate social exclusion by providing people with opportunities to participate in the creative economy. Drawing on the findings of a major study of the factors shaping cultural policy internationally, this article identifies and maps the priorities, key intersections, and convergences associated with these priorities in British cultural policy. The article argues that, in spite of taking different forms and having varying emphases depending on the constituency and the level of governance involved, the convergence agenda currently dominating British cultural policy is nevertheless remarkably consistent in terms of the discourses surrounding culture, the remit of the cultural sphere, and strategic policy implementation.     

Beyond Peirce: The New Science of Semiotics and the Semiotics of Law

This paper shows how Peirce's semeiotic could be turned into a powerful science. The New Science of Semiotics provides not only a new paradigm and an empirical justification for all these applications, but also a rational and systematic procedure for carrying them out as well. Thus the New Science of Semiotics transforms the philosophy of law into the science of legal scholarship, the discipline that I call jurisology.

《典型美国人》中的文化认同

《典型美国人》把儒家的人伦和个人主义看作是中国传统化和美国主流化的一对基本差异,并以此结构全篇,通过讲述华人移民张意峰及其家人由于语境的变化而在价值观、生活方式和思维方式上发生的改变及其后果,批判了“熔炉”模式下“典型美国人”的定义,提倡“美国色拉碗”式的多元化,主张华人移民在建构化身份的过程中,应该对东西化进行鉴别吸收,融合贯通两种化的优点。     

A Legal Semiotics Framework for Exploring the Origins of Hermagorean Stasis

Stasis is a process of classical rhetoric that identifies the core issue in a trial or a similar debate. Hermagoras of Temnos included the first comprehensive analysis of stasis in his second-century BCE treatise on rhetoric, now lost. Modern scholars tend to echo George Kennedy, who maintains that Hermagoras’ inspiration for the hierarchical structure of stasis is indeterminate. This article, however, employs scholarship in legal semiotics, including the work of Miklós K?ncz?l and Bernard S. Jackson, to argue that Hermagoras based stasiastic structure on Aristotle’s first-figure syllogism. Ideally, knowledge of that structure can enhance modern applications of stasis.     

A Case for Applying the Theoretical Semiotics in the Practice of Trade Mark Law

The application of semiotics in trade mark law is an interdisciplinary endeavour in its infancy. The author traces its genesis in recent years and situates it within the context of general theoretical approaches, in particular of an interdisciplinary kind, appearing in the trade mark law literature in the past. The purposes for which such theories are applied, and questions of methodology arising from this, are examined. In particular, it is observed that semiotic theory has, by and large, been used for the purpose of debating legal policy in trade mark law (especially in the United States), and that this has given rise to argument about the extent to which semiotic theory can exert any normative force of its own upon the law. This article offers a different perspective. It is sought to demonstrate the usefulness of theoretical semiotics in solving trade mark law questions in practice. The author emphasises that this involves no threat to orthodox legal problem-solving methodology (whatever one may think of the orthodoxy), and in particular does not require the normative use of semiotic theory. Taking as a starting point the concept of ‹trade mark use’, and having regard to trade mark law and literature in Europe, the United States and Australia, the author proceeds to demonstrate the proposed approach by reference to some current problems in trade mark infringement.     

Implications of the Minority Identity Development Model for jury consultants

Jurors from racial and ethnic minority, groups are often stereotyped as favoring the “underdog.” The problem with this generalization is that it ignores minority identity development as a within-group variable. This paper describes five stages of the Minority Identity Development (MID) Model and its implications for jury consultants.     

Native American Identity and the Limits of Cultural Defence

This article concerns itself with the phenomenon of the cultural defence as it exhibits itself in the US juridical context. Recent socio-legal discussions about this phenomenon reveal three prevalent positions: the illegality of cultural defence on constitutional grounds, the necessity of cultural defence as a matter of discretionary justice, and the intermediary position of working cultural defence into a legal doctrine. By problematizing the operative concept of culture, the author suggests that the idea of cultural defence should be understood in terms of foreignness. This suggestion is supported on the basis of the phenomenological theory of the alien (xenology). In order to illustrate the juridical limits of the cultural defence I examine the history of constructing the Native American as a cultural legal subject. Hence the question that primes this examination: is there a possibility of the traditional cultural defence for the American Indians? After a provisional answer that there is no such possibility, I conclude with the discussion of hospitality as a way to an ethically necessary and legally acceptable idea of culture.     

从“非正式帝国主义”到“法律帝国主义”:以近代中国的境遇为例

近代国际法理论框架下的非正式帝国主义,由最初的自由贸易模式扩展至政治、司法等诸般间接控制样式。在非正式帝国的塑造中,合乎国际法规范的条约具备去疆界化与再疆界化的意义,即破除正式领土帝国的堡垒,重建非正式帝国的藩篱。法律无疑是实现非正式帝国主义不可或缺的重要支撑,而它本身也成就为非正式帝国主义的一种典型形式——法律帝国主义。以近代中国的境遇为例,法律帝国主义所表达的,正是在政策指引之下,借助条约规定方式,以治外法权为基本实践手段,通过司法机构的跨域构建以及法律职业人士的身体力行,以最终达成西方法播散的整体过程。对此,我们应有清醒的认识。     

Semiotics for Citizens in Government Web Sites

High alert exists when the semiotic components of electronic communication are challenged to induce responsive citizenship. Evaluations of the uses of existing government websites are particularly important in that regard. They form a high tech network of data and communication efforts but do not contribute to the education of citizens. Do we dislike education when carried out by government? Governments seldom focus education as a force to change attitude and mentality of the citizenry. To educate means to create a difference through an educated appreciation of others – a necessary condition for life in institutions, supported by citizens who themselves grew up in the Western hemisphere with its overemphasis on ego-directed national goals, values and interests. One observes how materials for an electronically enhanced education program, made available in government web sites, remain out of use. An education deficit must be mentioned, which in its turn underestimates the contribution to semiotics in law and politics, in particular where theoretical foundations of the virtual are at stake.     

差异与选择：再论后现代语境下文化帝国主义——从《落叶归根》在美国的热销谈起

后现代论述具有反对意识形态霸权的主导意义和解构整体思维的基本特征.当西方文化语境中的后殖民知识分子形成的后殖民批评理论对主流话语提出质疑时,当美国民族认同的"美国核心文化"受到"多元文化主义"的挑战时,一部用汉语化的英文写成、满含思乡之情并且颂扬儒家文化的散居族裔作家作品在西方应该是被冷落的,但事实却完全相反.其原因何在?美籍华裔女作家马严君玲的自传作品《落叶归根》(Falling Leaves)在西方的一度热销,说明西方文化帝国主义在后现代语境下不再仅以媒体形式输出西方文化,而且开始关注如何实现本土文化的同质性,差异与选择成为其两大新特征.     

Symbolism of the Spirit of the Laws: A Genealogical Excursus to Legal and Political Semiotics

The spirit of the laws is a symbol reflecting the ontological status and transcendental ideals of the system of positive law. The article analyses historical links between the romantic philosophy of the spirit of the nation (Volksgeist), which subsumed Montesquieu’s general spirit of the laws under the concept of ethnic culture, and recent politics of cultural and ethnic identity. Although criticising attempts at legalising ethnic collective identities, the article does not simply highlight the virtues of demos and the superiority of civic culture against the vices of ethnos and the regressive nature of ethnic politics of identity. Instead, the author argues that the civil democratic concept of political identity is part of the more general process of social differentiation: unlike the pre-political ethnic concept of identity, it can be converted to generalised democratic procedures and thus dismantle the totalitarian claims of cultural identity politics.

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课堂教学中学生的文化身份差异及其体认

学生的文化身份表征了学生因地域来源、家庭来源等因素影响而形成的文化差异特质。既往教学多把学生固化为知识学习者,对学生的文化身份差异视而不见,很少考虑学生文化差异对教学所产生的影响制约作用,甚至偏离使学生成为文化卓越者的功能与价值。正确体认学生在课堂教学中的文化身份差异及其对教学的影响、寻求对学生身份文化差异的理性重构,是突破囿于知识传递教学的缺陷、寻求教学改进的可能路向。这需要教师以与他者文化和谐相处的文化工作者身份对待教学,以移情性文化理解者理解学生,以文化引领与构建的责任担当引导学生进行文化构建。