The Seven signa: Implications of a Medieval Notion

Abstract

When Thomas Aquinas calls a sign «aliquid ex quo deveniatur in cognitionem alterius quasi discurrendo,» and «quodcumque notum in quo aliquid cognoscatur»1, the possible extent of a typology of significance may threaten to exceed all bounds. What, after all, does not — when noted — somehow lead us on a course which bespeaks some other? Nonetheless, if we resist the shift to a pan-significant stance by reserving the word sign for those things alone which we recognize, with a sort of spontaneity, as pointing to some other thing, we discover a short list, and a very important one at that. I wish only to suggest that the list be slightly lengthened, and in a significant way, in order to accommodate what I see to be all seven species of sign.