Diagram, diagrammatics, and diagrammatology in semiotics
Diagram, diagrammatics, and diagrammatology in semiotics

Summary/Abstract: The objective of Pihel’s chapter is to introduce the concept of the diagram, as found in contemporary semiotics, especially after a renewed interest in its role in Charles S. Peirce’s epistemology and logic, spearheaded by scholars such as Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen and Frederik Stjernfelt. This entails a re-evaluation of both diagrams and iconicity in Peirce’s thought, but also their role in modern semiotics, where the concept of the diagram can be seen to bridge Peircean semiotics and iconicity with studies on discrete symbolic systems such as natural language, bridging the gap with Saussurean semiotics, and between semiotics and cognitive linguistics and sciences, which rely on a similar schematism as being inherent to cognition. The chapter proceeds by giving an overview of Peirce’s conception of the diagram-sign and its role in his semiotics and sign-typology. Following that undertaking, the chapter considers conceptual parallels between diagrams and other developments in modern semiotics and humanities. Finally, it considers an alternative conception of the diagram concept, as found in works by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Pihel’s main academic interests are in music semiotics, Peircean semiotics in general, and the study of diagrammatic signs in music in particular. He has divided his time and interest between both practice and theoretical study of music and semiotics, having previously written on the modelling of space and motion in music, and on the narrative analysis of classical music. More recently, he has devoted time to Deleuzean and continental philosophical thought.

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