The field of semiotics seems like a tower of Babel fraught with newly coined words and exotic uses of ordinary words. This compact resource provides an indispensable key to the specialized vocabulary of a growing international community of scholars in literature, cultural studies, philosophy, anthropology, cinema and women's studies. 487 clear, straightforward definitions shed light on the semiotic texts of Saussure, Peirce, Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Eco Kristeva, Derrida, Irigaray, and others. The perspectives of major contemporary philosophers on such basic issues as the structure of psychological theory, the nature of language, and the existence of mental representations are covered in 20 important and accessible essays. Each section opens with an essay outlining the principal questions under discussion. Computation theory, artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and new frontiers are all covered. A companion to Philosophy and Cognitive Science, this reader presents the cutting edge for students and researchers in the field.