10 – Of Mice and Men

Publisher Summary Sign systems are composed of signs of different types that can be combined following certain rules to obtain signs of other types. The most immediate example is that of written language, in which signs of type “character” can be combined to form signs of type “word,” which, in turn, can be combined to form signs of type “sentence.” The rules that create signs of a certain type from other signs are called constructors. Constructors can have priority, for example a first-order constructor has higher priority than a second-order constructor which, in turn, has higher priority than a third-order constructor. Priorities create a partial order of constructors. This chapter represents the database as a collection of spaces that send messages one to another using certain sign systems. The spaces are essentially explicative devices. Because their structure is inaccessible and, therefore, irrelevant, the only thing that matters is the “view” on the internal structure of the space that is afforded by the sign system with which the space communicates. Sign systems provide the tools necessary to study the process of communications between parts of a community.