John Deely's Influence on Prague Semiotics

In this paper, we give account of how the present shift in thought of the Prague School of Semiotics towards the history of semiotics (including, perhaps most notably, the exegesis of Peirce's work) has been initiated and shaped by the ideas of John Deely. We discuss how works of John Deely were "discovered" in Prague, and how they found their way into our scholarly work and curriculum. We concentrate on the two Deely's ideas which influenced us the most: his method of the "archaeology of concepts" applicable to the study of the history of semiotics, and his historical account of what constitutes a sign in its proper being, which not only makes semiotics and its historiography possible, but also advances a new conception of philosophy considered as semiotics.