Preface.- Introduction. 1. The Evolutionary History of Biosemiotics; D. Favareau.- Part 1: Sebeok's Precursors and Influences. 2. The Theory of Meaning; J. von Uexküll.- 3. The Logic of Signs; C.S. Peirce.- 4. Signs, Language and Behavior; C. Morris.- 5. Universe of Mind: The Semiophere; Y. Lotman.- Part 2: The Biosemiotic Project of Thomas A. Sebeok. 6. Biosemiotics: Its Roots and Proliferations; T.A. Sebeok.- 7. The Clever Hans Phenomenon; H. Hediger.- 8. Phytosemiotics; M. Krampen.- 9. Endosemiotics; T. von Uexküll.- 10. Signs and Codes in Immunology; G. Prodi.- 11. The Animal Mind; R. Thom.- 12. A Semiotic Perspective on the Sciences: Steps to a New Paradigm; M. Anderson et al.- Part 3: Independent Approaches to Biosemiotics. 13. Theoretical Biology on its Way to Biosemiotics; K. Kull.- 14. Laws of Symbolic Mediation; F.S. Rothschild.- 15. Concepts of Molecular Biosemiotics; M. Florkin.- 16. Form, Substance and Difference; G. Bateson.- 17. The Physics and Metaphysics of Biosemiotics; H. Pattee.- 18. The Symbolic Species; T.W. Deacon.- Part 4: The Contemporary Interdiscipline of Biosemiotics. 19. The Semiotics of Nature: Code-Duality; J. Hoffmeyer.- 20. Information and Semiosis in Living Systems; J. Queiroz et al.- 21. Readers of the Book of Life; A. MarkoS.- 22. The Cybersemiotic Model of Communication; S. Brier.- 23. The Logos of the Bios; G. Witzany.- 24. Biosemiotics: A New Understanding of Life; M. Barbieri.- Bibliography and Further Readings.-

Synthesizing the findings from a wide range of disciplines - from biology and anthropology to philosophy and linguistics - the emerging field of Biosemiotics explores the highly complex phenomenon of sign processing in living systems. Seeking to advance a naturalistic understanding of the evolution and development of sign-dependent life processes, contemporary biosemiotic theory offers important new conceptual tools for the scientific understanding of mind and meaning, for the development of artificial intelligence, and for the ongoing research into the rich diversity of non-verbal human, animal and biological communication processes.

Donald Favareau's Essential Readings in Biosemiotics has been designed as a single-source overview of the major works informing this new interdiscipline, and provides scholarly historical and analytical commentary on each of the texts presented. The first of its kind, this book constitutes a valuable resource to both bioscientists and to semioticians interested in this emerging new discipline, and can function as a primary textbook for students in biosemiotics, as well.

Moreover, because of its inherently interdisciplinary nature and its focus on the 'big questions' of cognition, meaning and evolutionary biology, this volume should be of interest to anyone working in the fields of cognitive science, theoretical biology, philosophy of mind, evolutionary psychology, communication studies or the history and philosophy of science.