Abstract

The author claims that the social relay theory rose from the global problem of the mode of existence of semiotic objects (including knowledge). This problem is connected with the status of text in human studies and epistemology that is both the material phenomenon (sound oscillation, ink on paper) and something full of sense and meaning. Understanding of the text is determined by the reader’s inclusion into the world of social norms which is built upon the relay structures. The social relay theory suggests the language for description and analysis of this world.