Signs and Symbols
Aug 3rd, 2009 by Micah Tillman | Start the Discussion |
While I’m on the topic, I shall point out that people often confuse signs and symbols.
Understanding the difference between the two is relevant especially when talking about religious and political practices.
To think something (like Baptism or Communion, on the religious side, or diplomatic trips and formalities, on the political side) as a sign, rather than a symbol, sucks much of the life out of it.
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A symbol is a sign that’s also a picture. A sign can’t fully function as a sign unless the thing it points out is there to be pointed out (as I was saying last time, drawing on the work of Edmund Husserl).
But a sign, in and of itself, doesn’t make the thing it signifies to be there.
A picture, on the other hand, represents (“makes present again,” i.e., makes present in a secondary way) the thing it is a picture of. The thing it pictures appears through it — it’s there (in a certain kind of way) through the picture.
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Therefore, when you put a sign and a picture together, you get a symbol: a sign that carries the thing it is a sign of around with it.
A sign is like a carpet salesman who comes to your house and describes the various kinds of carpets you could buy to you. A symbol is like a carpet salesman who brings samples.
A symbol is a sign that not only points out something but represents (i.e., presents, or makes present, in a certain way) what it points out.
Whereas a thing that is signified is merely pointed to (by the sign), a thing that is symbolized is not only pointed to, but made present through the thing that is pointing to it (the symbol).
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When you experience a symbol, the thing it is a symbol of is automatically there to. You can’t help but experience the thing a symbol is of, if you experience the symbol, even if you experience the thing the symbol is of through the symbol (from a kind of distance, or in a secondary way).
And that’s why it’s important that if you have the choice between seeing the sacraments as signs or symbols — or if you have the choice of seeing political formalities and “gestures” as signs or symbols — it will help you to see them as being important if you take the latter option.
A symbol actually makes what it symbolizes present, in a way that a mere sign doesn’t.
