The Semiotics of Extremism

“Extremism” is a term and a concept that does not designate a precise, determined, and definitive location in the semiosphere (the abstract area in which a community produces, handles, and circulates meaning). As the etymology of the word itself suggests, its meaning is intrinsically topological and relational. Something can be extreme only by situating itself at the periphery of a spectrum, at the border of an area of potentialities. The term and the corresponding concept, moreover, signal that this spectrum, as well as this area, are not neutrally ar- ranged but contain at least one dialectics and, as a consequence, one polarization. In other words, “extremism” implicitly refers to an axiology, which includes also the impossibility not to adopt a perspective on it, a point of view. Thus, when something is qualified as an expression of “extremism”, such qualification inherently points out that: 1) this something, be it a statement or a behavior, is comparable and commensurable with other similar events in the semiosphere; 2) all these events can be arranged along a spectrum, in relation to the pertinence that determines their commensurability; 3) those who deem the statement or behavior as extreme consider that they are entitled to position themselves at the center of the spectrum, and simultaneously situate what they judge at one or the other extreme of it. The article semiotically investigates the meaning of “extremism” in pres- ent-day communication.