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We propose a new relational direction in higher education that acknowledges external and internal images as integrated in thinking and learning. We expand educational theory and practice that commonly rely on discrete conceptual developments that exclude images. Our argument epistemologically relies on certain semiotic views that consider the role of iconic signs and iconicity (meaning making by the virtue of similarity) as significant in relation to knowledge and learning. The analogical and imaginative work required to discover similarity between external pictures and any educational concept is a form of iconic mind work that opens a space for transformational thinking and creative solutions. The novelty of our argument lies in the schematic philosophy of mind by C.S. Peirce, and specifically, an adaptation of Peirce's triadic sign diagram for learning, exemplified via an 'inquiry graphic' sign and reflective method. This outlook seeks connections in diversity, arguing for an education that acknowledges and teaches intrinsic human relatedness to other humans, beings and things in the environment, thus challenging any notions of anthropocentrism and superiority. It calls for a reaction in international higher education to acknowledge the iconicity of concepts and thinking and embrace integrated image-concept signs for deep and critical teaching-learning, towards a modest educational contribution to counteracting social and environmental crises.

This paper explores the semiotics of Charles Peirce in relation to Colin Koopman's advocacy for a new wave of pragmatism, which he terms transitionalism. Presenting both similarities and differences between these two, the main point is that Peirce's semiotics fits the general idea of a transitionalist, as contrasted to substantialist, philosophy, even though Koopman explicitly excludes this possibility. This is argued both on the grounds of Peirce's own writings and in view of recent, post-Peircean developments, particularly in semiotics, which highlight certain possibilities of Peirce's pragmatism. Overall, Peirce's concept of the sign as the tool of a relational logic that explicates the transition from hypothesis to conclusion recommends Peirce's pragmatism as avant-garde for its time and justifies its labelling as transitionalist pragmatism. Some implications for education are identified along the development of the argument.

This paper aims to explain how semiotics and constructivism can collaborate in an educational epistemology by developing a joint approach to prescientific conceptions. Empirical data and findings of constructivist research are interpreted in the light of Peirce's semiotics. Peirce's semiotics is an anti-psychologistic logic (CP 2.252; CP 4.551; W 8:15; Pietarinen in "Signs of logic," Springer, Dordrecht, 2006; Stjernfelt in "Diagrammatology. An investigation on the borderlines of phenomenology, ontology and semiotics," Springer, Dordrecht, 2007) and relational logic. Constructivism was traditionally developed within psychology and sociology and, therefore, some incompatibilities can be expected between these two schools. While acknowledging the differences, we explain that constructivism and semiotics share the assumption of realism that knowledge can only be developed upon knowledge and, therefore, an epistemological collaboration is possible. The semiotic analysis performed confirms the constructivist results and provides a further insight into the teacher-student relation. Like the constructivist approach, Peirce's doctrine of agapism infers that the personal dimension of teaching must not be ignored. Thus, we argue for the importance of genuine sympathy in teaching attitudes. More broadly, the article also contributes to the development of postmodern humanities. At the end of the modern age, the humanities are passing through a critical period of transformation. There is a growing interest in semiotics and semiotic philosophy in many areas of the humanities. Such a case, on which we draw, is the development of a theoretical semiotic approach to education, namely edusemiotics (Stables and Semetsky, "Pedagogy and edusemiotics: theoretical challenge/practical opportunities," Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2015).