John Deely

John Deely (April 26, 1942 – January 7, 2017) was an American philosopher and semiotician. He was a professor of philosophy at Saint Vincent College and Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Prior to this, he held the Rudman Chair of Graduate Philosophy at the Center for Thomistic Studies, located at the University of St. Thomas (Houston).

His main research concerned the role of semiosis (the action of signs) in mediating objects and things. He specifically investigated the manner in which experience itself is a dynamic structure (or web) woven of triadic relations (signs in the strict sense) whose elements or terms (representamens, significates and interpretants) interchange positions and roles over time in the spiral of semiosis. He was 2006–2007 Executive Director of the Semiotic Society of America.

A number of his works have been published in the journal ''Advances in Semiotics'', including one of his most popular publications, ''Introducing Semiotics: Its History and Doctrine'' (1982), as well as ''Frontiers in Semiotics'' (1986), edited by Brooke Williams and Felicia Kruse. Provided by Wikipedia