Contents -- Preface -- Contributors -- Chapter 1 Why Biosemiotics? An Introduction to Our View on the Biology of Life Itself -- Sebeok's thesis -- Structuralism as a step towards semiotics -- More steps towards semiotics -- The biosemiotic approach -- References -- Part I Biosemiotic Approach: General Principles -- Chapter 2 Theses on Biosemiotics: Prolegomena to a Theoretical Biology -- The eight theses -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 3 Biology Is Immature Biosemiotics -- Function in biology -- Darwin's striving -- The homunculus trap -- Genes and semiotic scaffolding -- Biosemiotics and the theory of evolution -- Biology and biosemiotics -- References -- Chapter 4 Biosemiotic Research Questions -- Introduction -- Semiotic versus non-semiotic life science -- Questions about the biosemiotics of organisms' experience and distinctions in umwelten -- Questions about the biosemiotics of biological function -- Questions about the attributes and boundary levels of biosemiosis -- Biosemiotic case studies -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 5 Organism and Body: The Semiotics of Emergent Levels of Life -- Introduction: Organicist philosophies -- "Life" in Lebenswelt, biology and ontology -- Level-specific forms of life and embodiment -- "Life" as self-organization far from equilibrium -- Life as biofunctionality-organismic embodiment -- Life as biobodies - coordinate your cells! -- Life as animate - moving your self! -- Life as anthropic - talk about life! -- Life as societal - get a life! -- Hybridization and downward causation -- Models of life -- The life-model entanglement problem -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 6 Life Is Many, and Sign Is Essentially Plural: On the Methodology of Biosemiotics -- Phenomenal, physical, semiotic -- Semiotic objects versus physical objects -- Semiotic modelling -- Comments on semiotic methods.

References -- Part II APPLICATIONS -- Chapter 7 The Need for Impression in the Semiotics of Animal Freedom: A Zoologist's Attempt to Perceive the Semiotic Aim of H. Hediger -- References -- Chapter 8 The Multitrophic Plant-Herbivore-Parasitoid-Pathogen System: A Biosemiotic Perspective -- Introduction -- Biological information -- Biology becomes a science of "sensing" -- From semiochemicals to ecosystems -- Experimental settings and field conditions: the importance of the context -- Resistance, virulence and health: subjective categories in ecosystems -- References -- Chapter 9 Structure and Semiosis in Biological Mimicry -- Introduction -- Semiotic interpretations of mimicry: from simulation to ambivalent sign -- Uexküllian perspective on mimicry -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 10 Semiosphere Is the Relational Biosphere -- Semiosphere -- Biosphere -- Noosphere -- Biosphere as semiosphere -- References -- Chapter 11 Why Do We Need Signs in Biology? -- Introduction -- Why do we need signs in biology? -- Life's irreducible structure -- Transcending the view "from within" -- Information as a "difference that makes a difference" -- Machines of oblivion -- Reductionism is impossible because we are irreversible -- The digital and the analogical -- Conclusions -- References -- Part III Conversations -- Chapter 12 Between Physics and Semiotics -- The regions for life in the physical world -- The principles and discoveries -- Roots and reminiscences -- The way to proceed -- References -- Chapter 13 A Roundtable on (Mis)Understanding of Biosemiotics -- References -- Chapter 14 Theories of Signs and Meaning: Views from Copenhagen and Tartu -- Why were you initially drawn to the theory of signs and meaning? -- What do you consider your contribution to the field?.

What is the proper role of a theory of signs and meaning in relation to other academic disciplines? -- What do you consider the most important topics and/or contributions in the theory of meaning and signs? -- What are the most important open problems in this field and what are the prospects for progress? -- References -- Acknowledgements -- Name Index -- Subject Index.