Is it Real? is a collection of twenty-eight papers on the most challenging, provocative – and profound – topics related to the quest for real and virtual realities of vision and other senses, and realities that are either constructed or imagined. There was no school, no theory, no methodology, nor any empirical approach in semiotics which was not forced to take a position, whether implicitly or explicitly, in attempting to discuss this issue. Semiotics is a discipline dealing with signs, and, thus, it is commonly thought that if we say of something that it is a “sign”, then it is something “less” real than the thing itself to which it refers. As such, the field of problems which opens from the theme “Is it Real?” is almost endless – but also relevant. This volume presents interactive dialogue related to this question structured under six different headings: five papers on the topic of “Visual Realities”; six on “What is Real?”; five on “Textual Realities”, concentrating on realities revealed from literature or the written language through texts; five on “Constructed Realities”; three on “Virtual Realities”; and, finally, four papers on “Imagery Realities”.

This book describes a novel conception of reality, one that uniquely incorporates an idealistic view of existence with an account of objectivity. It introduces a general model of conceptual analysis and demonstrates its effectiveness in exposing and establishing the existence of conceptual ties. The book begins by introducing the tools and principles needed for the conceptual analysis undertaken in chapters that follow. Next, it presents a detailed examination into existence, contingency, idealism, self-consciousness and natural laws. In the process, the author critically examines the conceptions of existence held by Kant, Frege and Russell; argues that the determinations of past, present and future are subjective in the sense that they imply the existence of consciousness in relation to which they are fixed; shows that every possible reality includes sufficient conditions for self-consciousness; and confronts the question of the "uniformity of nature," which states that reality is subject to natural laws. In the end, the idealistic conception of reality developed in this book implies that existence is relative, rather than absolute, in the sense that it is determined in relation to a point of view internal to reality. This view of existence implies that reality necessarily exists.

A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced “a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally” (George Simpson, American Sociological Review). In this seminal book, Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society. Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense, everyday knowledge—the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people. When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction,effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy.

Is a story about the humanity living with a natural mind that possess by endless needs, wants and desires. The book explains how we become so intimately connected with life through our mind and by which we are conscious of all of life’s pain, suffering and disappointments it brings. In the process, we become a problem-oriented world as we individually intertwine with a time perception world, construed with the notion of future, opportunities and hope for better tomorrows. As our living continue to revolve around our desires and perceptions, the least of all the choices we will make or want is to become free from fear, free from pain and sufferings and pursuit unhappiness. Fear that if we are not happy, this will mean we have lost ourselves in emptiness and eventually become hopeless. To be hopeful, is to feeding the never ending desire for a better future from the past. In clear, straightforward language, complemented by well-designed mental functioning desire for peace, love, joy and happiness every aspect of this integrative is systematically address the perception that life will get better. From strategies, to family conveys this powerful message of empathy, hope for individuals struggling with ongoing persistent to keep on working as a manager of time to facilitate history of endless expectation. All of us enthralled in this behavior, even with obsession trying to reverse what is perceived negative relationships life and time. Yet, history indicates that the very aspect of empathic is not hopeful beginning or ending, all that does it to continuous integrating toxic relationships while promoting positive attitude toward an unsuccessful outcome. Richard Hooker (1554? - 1600) English theologian, once say, “Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better”. Also another historian Alvin Toffler a U.S. writer (1928 - ) once says, “Even the best strategies seldom take into account more than a few of the consequences that flow from them. The book went on to explains how the appearance that time and the human mind are seemingly inseparable, but biologically speaking that is not entirely conclusive. Nonetheless, as far as being aware of existence is concerned, this is one of the inter-social complexities. This tragic interactive relation is evident in many different aspects for every person living today. While progressive technology has provided the contemporary world with countless time-saving devices and options to managing our time, most people complain and suffering with anxiety about not having enough time to do all the things they want or have to do.

Reading Heikki Räisänen’s hermeneutics in context, Timo Eskola explores the development of Western New Testament interpretation. Reclaiming a Wredean approach to the Scriptures, Räisänen focuses on tradition and interpretation. He builds on Weberian sociology, adopted through Peter Berger’s theories, and substitutes sacralized culturalism for biblical theology. After examining fourteenth century Quran-criticism and its impact on Reimarus, Eskola discusses the genesis of the revised history-of-religion theory that Räisänen developed when investigating the Quran’s relationship to the Bible. Sociology then becomes a link between standard historicism and poststructuralism as Räisänen reinterprets Berger’s sociology of knowledge. Räisänen’s sacralized culturalism finally becomes the theory from which his magnum opus The Rise of Christian Beliefs has been written.

This volume advocates a shift from the social constructivism found in the work of Thomas Luckmann and Peter Berger, to a communicative constructivism that acknowledges communication as an embodied form of action in its own right, according to which social actors, in engaging in communicative action, construct a material social reality that guides, delimits, and enables actions. A study of the importance of understanding the role of communication in an age in which digitization and mediatization have extended the reach of communication to a global level and brought about the emergence of the communication society, The Communicative Construction of Reality shows how communication society does not merely replace modern society and its hierarchical institutions, but complements it in a manner that continually results in conflicts leading to the refiguration of society. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in the sociology of knowledge, communication, and social theory.

Signs in Use is an accessible introduction to the study of semiotics. All organisms, from bees to computer networks, create signs, communicate, and exchange information. The field of semiotics explores the ways in which we use these signs to make inferences about the nature of the world. Signs in Use cuts across different semiotic schools to introduce six basic concepts which present semiotics as a theory and a set of analytical tools: code, sign, discourse, action, text, and culture. Moving from the most simple to the most complex concept, the book gradually widens the semiotic perspective to show how and why semiotics works as it does. Each chapter covers a problem encountered in semiotics and explores the key concepts and relevant notions found in the various theories of semiotics. Chapters build gradually on knowledge gained, and can also be used as self-contained units for study when supported by the extensive glossary. The book is illustrated with numerous examples, from traffic systems to urban parks, and offers useful biographies of key twentieth-century semioticians.

These papers on the structure of the literary process were brought together in memory of Felix Vodička (1909–1974). Contributions by: Jacek Baluch, Miroslav Červenka, Květoslav Chvatík, E.M. van Dam-Havelková, Sergej Davydov, Lubomir Doležel, Miroslav Drozda, Jan van der Eng, F.W. Galan, Mojmír Grygar, Wolfgang Iser, Milan Jankovič, Hans Robert Jauss, Renate Lachmann, Gail Lenhoff, Ladislav Matějka, Tone Pretnar, Lucylla Pszczołowska, Janice A. Radway, Charles Eric Reeves, Herta Schmid, Miloš Sedmidubský, Peter Steiner, Wendy Steiner, Oleg Sus, Ronald Vroon.

Argues that Confucianism can be important to the contemporary, global conversation of philosophy and should not be confined to an East Asian context.