This is a collection of articles written by the Italian philosopher Rossi-Landi between 1952 and 1984, providing an overview of his contribution to the philosophy of language and his critique of Charles Morris, Wittgenstein, Bachtin and his Italian contemporaries.

1. Introduction (by Petrilli, Susan); 2. Notes; 3. References; 4. Sidelights (by Rossi-Landi, Ferruccio); 5. I. Signs and Masters in Semiotic History; 6. 1. A Fragment in the History of Italian Semiotics; 7. Premise; 8. 1.1 Communication in the History of Ideas; 9. 1.2 Flour from My Own Mill; 10. References; 11. 2. Signs about a Master of Signs; 12. 2.1 A Personal Premise; 13. 2.2 Remarks about This Selection; 14. 2.3 Semiotics and Philosophy; 15. 2.4 At the Threshold of "Social Practice" in FTS; 16. 2.5 Semiotics as a Biological Science in SLB; 17. 2.6 Sign-behavior vs. Behavior-as-communication; 18. 2.7 Sign-vehicles, Signifiants, and Signs; 19. 2.8 Meaning and the Three Dimensions; 20. 2.9 Summary and Conclusions; 21. 2.10 Writings by Charles Morris; 22. Notes; 23. References; 24. 3. On some Post-Morrisian Problems; 25. 3.1 Introduction; 26. 3.2 Semiotics and Philosophy; 27. 3.3 Signs and Values; 28. 3.4 Charles Morris and Social Practice; 29. 3.5 Semiosis and Meaning; 30. 3.6 Behavior and Communication; 31. 3.7 Behaving and "Moving About"; 32. 3.8 Conclusion; 33. References; 34. 4. Wittgenstein, Old and New; 35. 4.1 Foreword; 36. 4.2 Wittgenstein's Iceberg; 37. 4.3 Wittgenstein and Semiotics; 38. 4.4 Ideas for a Common Approach to Marx, Freud, and Wittgenstein; 39. 4.5 Wittgenstein and Alienation; 40. References; 41. II. Signs as Cognitive and Evaluative Instruments; 42. 5. Toward an Analysis of Appraisive Signs in Esthetics; 43. 5.1 Morris's Behavioral Approach; 44. 5.2 Draft of an Operational Approach to Esthetic Values; 45. Notes; 46. References; 47. 6. On Absurdity; 48. Head Note; 49. 6.1 "Category Mistakes" and the Reductio Ad Absurdum According to Linguistic Philosophy; 50. 6.2 Ryle's Procedure; 51. 6.3 General Weakness of the Appeal to Absurdity; 52. 6.4 Various Types of Absurdity, from "Linguistic" to "Real"; 53. 6.5 Absurdity and Logical Types; 54. Notes; 55. References; 56. 7. On the Overlapping of Categories in the Social Sciences; 57. 7.1 Some Cases of Paired Terms; 58. 7.2 Instances of Overlapping Categories; 59. 7.3 A Hint at the Dialectic of Essence and Phenomena; 60. Note; 61. References; 62. III. Signs, Linguistic Alienation and Social Reproduction; 63. 8. Introduction to Semiosis and Social Reproduction; 64. 8.1 Foreword and Outline; 65. 8.2 Does Semiotics Exist?; 66. 8.3 Social Reproduction in General; 67. 8.4 Social Reproduction vs. Reality; 68. 8.5 Three Complementary Approaches; 69. 9. Articulations in Verbal and Objectual Sign Systems; 70. Foreword; 71. 9.1 Artefacts and Work; 72. 9.2 Homology of Production; 73. 9.3 Plurality of Articulations; 74. 10. Sign Systems and Social Reproduction; 75. 10.1 Social Reproduction as the Principle of All Things; 76. 10.2 The Articulations of Social Reproduction; 77. 10.3 Sign Systems in Social Reproduction; 78. Notes; 79. References; 80. 11. Ideas for the Study of Linguistic Alienation; 81. 11.1 Introduction; 82. 11.2 Linguistic Capital, Constant; 83. 11.3 Linguistic Capital, Variable; 84. 11.4 Total Linguistic Capital; 85. 11.5 Linguistic Exploitation; 86. 11.6 Linguistic Consumerism; 87. Notes; 88. References; 89. IV. Signs and Material Reality; 90. 12. Signs and Bodies; 91. Notes; 92. 13. Ideas for a Manifesto of Materialistic Semiotics; 93. 14. Toward a Theory of Sign Residues; 94. 14.1 Introduction: Sign Systems and Social Reproduction; 95. 14.2 The Typology of Signs as a Function of Social Reproduction; 96. 14.3 The Totality "Sign," and "Sign Residues"; 97. 14.4 Signs as Mediating between the Material and the Social; 98. References; 99. Writings by Ferruccio Rossi-Landi; 100. Index Auctorum; 101. Index Rerum