Fakes, Signs, and Proxies. A Reflection on Signs as Filters and their Relation to Truth

If a filter is something that acts as a medium and has the effect of modifying the appearance of something for someone, then signs are filters. Comparing the two notions, I propose (a) that the actions conveyed by a sign (as a kind of filter) are part of the meaning of the sign itself; (b) that we can distinguish signs from surrogates and proxies, following a recent distinction by Floridi (2015), as kinds of filters; and (c) that surrogates, signs and proxies entertain different relations with the concept of truth. If surrogates are like fake-signs (Eco, 1990), because if taken as signs of something else they cease to be surrogates (a surrogate is a proxy that is not a sign), through the reflection on signs and proxies as filters it is possible to obtain a notion of truth coherent with the semiotic epistemology. This line of thought suggests that semiotics should reconsider the role of truth in its theory.