Signs Made Flesh: Body, Improvisation, and Cognition Through Semiotics

The chapter presents semiotics, the “science of signs,” as a “meta-” disciplinary device, with the aim to reconcile it with psychology and enable a mutual translation: the post-cognitivist paradigm of enactivism is employed to give conducted improvisation (a type of structured, collective, musical improvisation) a theoretical framework, and, conversely, conducted improvisation is employed as a metaphor of enactivism, as something capable to make this paradigm better understandable. The works of philosopher Alva Noë provide a solid reference point in highlighting the specificities of enactivism. Butch Morris’ Conduction and John Zorn’s game pieces, and Cobra in particular, serve as cases in point.