The French mathematician René Thom (Fields medal 1958) died in 2002. In this volume his
contributions to biology semiotics and linguistics are discussed by a group of scholars who
have continued his work and have shaped the new paradigm of dynamic semiotics and linguistics.
Thom's heritage is full of revolutionary ideas and deep insights which stem from a rich
intuition and a sharp awareness of the current state of the sciences including their
potentials and risks. The contributions to this volume are elaborations of papers given at a
colloquium at the International Center for Semiotics and Linguistics of the University of
Urbino (Italy) in 2005. The central concern of this volume is semiogenesis i.e. the evolution
and differentiation of meaningful («pregnant») forms in the field of symbolic systems - from
bio-communication to language and cultural forms like music art architecture or urban forms.
The basic questions are: How are meanings created and further differentiated? Where do they
come from? What kind of forces drive their unfolding? How can complex cultural forms be
understood based on simple morphodynamic principles? Applications concern the perception of
forms by animals and humans the categorization of forms e.g. in a lexicon and predication or
other complex symbolic behaviors which show up in grammar or in cultural artifacts like the
unfolding of urban centers.
