On the Semiotic Basis of Knowledge and Ethics: An Interview with Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio (Interview‪)‬

[1] DP: Let me start by thanking you for agreeing to talk about your book with me. I found Semiotics Unbounded a really fascinating attempt to synthesize a lot of material in the field of semiotics that will be unfamiliar to many of us (especially in the U.S.) who were trained according to a rather narrow equation of semiotics with Saussure and with the general principle of the arbitrariness of the sign. I suspect that for many readers of Genders, one of the things that will surprise them initially about this book is how robust the field of semiotics is, and how little it depends on familiar Saussurian principles. [2] As a way to start our discussion and provide some background for readers, could I ask you to discuss the definitions and assumptions about the field from which you are trying to "unbind" semiotics?