Semiotics of identity

The article explores semiotic mechanism of identification that underlies processes of categorization, cognition and mental adaptation to the outer world. Identification is regarded as a mental construct, a tool for conceptual ordering of semiosphere. Identification mechanism involves spotting indexal signs of identity and subsequent categorization of objects (iconic identification). By reproducing signs of identity, culture arranges hierarchies of analogies and similarities. The opposite side of this process is self-identification of objects. A sign of identity simultaneously labels self-identity of each class member. Identification as a mental construct possesses the attribute of non-completion. Semiosis rules out existence of absolute (iconic) replicas. Any equivalence established on the base of one or more common features appears asymmetric if other features are chosen. This semantic instability of identity is the reason for simultaneous inclusion of a sign in a variety of paradigms and its existence on the boundary between “self” and “non-self”. Rearrangement of semantic boundaries between “conventional” classes is the engine of semiosphere. Alternative categorizations proceed outside rhetorical conventions of culture. Here the signs of identity acquire indexal and symbolical quality, thus enhancing semantic instability of new paradigms. To analyze alternative categorization of objects of the world we used Polish texts of Zbigniew Herbert. In one of the texts a man identifying himself as a rock uses a non-conventional (for culture) sign of identity - variability. The other text presents reconstruction of self-identification procedure performed by a rock in relation to its inner “self” (“rockness”). In the article the novels “ Murder in Byzantium” by J. Kristeva and “ The Island of the Day Before” by U. Eco are cited. Extensive supporting data is not only a tool for visualizing ideas within an academic text, but also an opportunity to demonstrate landmark of the contemporary humanities - actualization of scientific theories in a literary discourse.