Abstract

Open peer commentary on the article “A Critique of Barbieri’s Code Biology” by Alexander V. Kravchenko.: One of the main problems of biosemiotics, i.e., the distinction between code-based artifacts and life itself, does not seem to be resolved yet. Semiosis requires codes but it cannot be based on a single code. I sketch a model that demonstrates the role of codes in semiosis and helps to see correspondences between the models of Peirce and Saussure.