Communication: The Power of Location

«I must say that I agree with Nanni’s thinking. Years ago, during a round table discussion at the University of Milan, I suggested to Eco that the claim of semiotics to account for all of human experience with its categories of sender, message, code, receiver, etc., was merely an ingenuous ‘metaphysics’ of communication: ingenuous because it is pre-philosophical and because it regards itself as proudly anti-metaphysical, just as the neo-positivists did when they thought they were elevating the logic of everyday discourse, which Nanni somewhat ironically calls ‘café logic’, and common sense perception (which differentiates between subject and object) to the level of universal criterion and sole truth for all times.» (Carlo Sini, Professor of Philosophy, University of Milan)
«Reading Nanni is for me like putting myself in the care of an Alpine guide who takes me safely among the crags and crevices. I must confess that the world in which Nanni operates with such acumen is foreign to me and perhaps even a bit hostile: that is, the world of semioticians, etc. I have tried to read their works but found them tedious. Nanni has, however, given me the key to understanding that world by making a distinction between ‘café logic’ (instrumental communication) and that logic to which we must resort in order to understand poetry and art in general. We belong to two different worlds but the value I derive from Nanni’s well-written texts has permitted me access to a world that, on my own, I would be reluctant to explore.» (Rosario Assunto, Professor of Aesthetics, University of Rome)
«Thank you for your stimulating books.» (Roman Jakobson, author of ‘Fundamentals of Language’)