Roland Barthes: Semiotic, The Collapse Of Meaning Authority

At the first time, semiotic was introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure through dichotomy of atomistic sign system: signified, signifier/ signifie and significant. This concept saw that meaning will be appeared if there is associative relation between what signed (signifier) and what to be signed (signified). Sign is unity from a signifier and idea or signified. A signifier will be meaningless without signified, and cause of that it’s not called by sign. And on the contrary, a signified cannot be extended without signifier. Signifier and signified couldn’t be separated, both of them is sign itself, they thus are a linguistic factor. “Signifier and signified are unity like two sides of a paper sheet” said de Saussure.
Roland Barthes is one of de Saussure followers who has opinion that a sign system reflected assumptions of certain society in certain time. Semiotic or semiology basically wants to study how humanity signifies things. In this case, to signify cannot be mixed with to communicate. Signify means those object want to communicate and also constitute structural system of sign.
The important thing which Barthes penetrated in his sign study is about the role of reader. Even connotation is original attribute of sign, also need reader activity to be functioned. Barthes explain clearly what he often called by second meaning system that built on other meaning system before. This second system is connotative. And semiotic approach is located in this second stage or in signified stage, then the message will be whole understood.
Roland Barthes made a systematic model to analyze the meaning of signs. His attentions more focus on two order signification concept. The first signification relation between signifier and signified in a sign toward external reality. He called it by denotation, that’s the real meaning of sign. Connotation is Barthes’ term to call the second signification. This describe the happen interaction when sign meet reader’s emotion and his culture values. Connotation has subjective meaning, at least inter-subjective meaning.
In this case, denotation is associated by closedness of meaning. As a reaction to against oppressive of literal denotation, Barthes try to refuse and eliminate it. For him the only exist is connotation. While denotation is the first and the real meaning of text that is untouched by human mind and its area is only in metaphysic world (maybe like idea in Plato term). And what is spread in human understanding is just connotation.
A few comments:
I saw his though is like other poststructuralist or postmodernist, like Derrida and Michel Foucault, then his theory destiny will be not far away from his other same philosophy genre. His though build anti-establishment. A text will be loosed his meaning in reality, because no one has a right to justify the real meaning of the text, even its author. Consequently, there are no differences between a beauty literature works and the bad one. All of it are fused in a universal text, that’s mythology. This concept is really unfinished solving.

walLahu a’lam….

Rene Descartes: Rationalism, a New Mythos

There are two primary sources of knowledge which human got naturally, those are reason and experience. All of knowledge include philosophy always circulate in both of them. Some people prefer to emphasize experience, and the others prefer to reason as their foundation. Who choose the first teaching called by empiricism, and the second is called by rationalism.
Rene Descartes, besides he was called by the founder of modern philosophy he also called by the founder of continental rationalism. His famous concept cogito ego sum became first crossbar for new period of philosophy, that’s modernity. Through his concept he want to affirm that only reason something could be the basic of philosophy, the only one believable principle, not faith and revelation in the same manner as what people hold in middle century. The appearance of Galileo, who find truth through science, is the victory for reason over revelation. Then, since the time, reason is always applied in human problems as modernity foundation.
In this case, human existence is determined by “I” element. Being or nothing of human are influenced and established by I existence as thinking subject. Cogito (I think) is not found through deduction of general principles or intuition. Cogito is found by our own minds, something known through self, not through scripture, legend, people opinion, prejudice, etc. it’s indicate that rationalism exalt subjectivism and individualism. Subject became very central in life until it be consciousness basic of someone existence.
Specifically, Rene Descartes set forth that in order to reach absolute assurance and universal guarantee truth, philosophy included epistemology must use mathematic method as its idealism. Because, according to Descartes the only discipline subject which produce certain and proved cogitation is mathematic. It means if philosophy want to find the certain result or thought, philosophy should make mathematic way as its idealism.
Furthermore, the rationalistic-positivistic paradigm will take some effects in modern life. Some of them are the emergence of subject-object dualism. By centre upon rationalism, the modernity life will consider human as life subject and universe as life object. By this dualism, human became in only his own world, not in surge, but in gap. The relation of modernity human with his universe is definite only as separated observer, not as a part of his cosmos who grappled intimately in it. Human is posited as active subject who free to observe, research, exploit and take over it. While cosmos around is only passive object that freely could be observed, researched and exploited as if it has no relation with the observer itself. That’s the cause of modern human alienation with his own world.
Because of that, rationalism at the first emergence was functioned to accuse mythos, now it became new mythos precisely. The mythologization is happened because of the rational paradigmatic system that his followers make it the one truth and deny truths from other views. Rationalism became a singularity and negated plurality. In its methodological context, modern science basically only know one scientific method that called by observation and experiment. It means there are a lot of possibilities which have truth values also over rationalism.