Paul Kockelman's new book on Mathematical Models of Meaning published by MIT Press

MIT Press has just published a new book by Paul Kockelman, entitled Mathematical Models of Meaning: A Dynamic Systems Approach to Possible World Semiotics. In this book, Professor Kockelman offers answers to the following kinds of questions: What is meaning? What is the relation between meaning, information, value, and purpose? What ingredients are necessary for a system to exhibit meaning? What behaviors, and capacities for behavior, are particular to meaning-oriented agents? Is there a relatively simple mathematical model that can adequately capture the dynamics—and diversity—of meaning-oriented agents? And finally, how can we best bridge the divide between interpretive paradigms that are qualitative and context rich and formal methods that are quantitative and domain general? It will be of interest to scholars interested in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, linguistics, anthropology, and the digital humanities. It is now available free and open access at https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6009/Mathematical-Models-of-MeaningA-Dynamic-Systems.