This paper proposes a biosemiotic conception of theories, as non-intentional organic theories, which is based on an analysis and comparison of philosopher Norwood Russell Hanson’s account of theories and zoologist Jakob von Uexküll’s theory of organisms. It is argued that Hanson’s proposals about scientific theories and their relation to observation are semiotic in nature and that there exists a correspondence between Hanson’s depiction of the relationship between theories, observation, and reality and von Uexküll’s views on the relationship between organisms and their environments. This correspondence supports an account of theories that depicts them as organic extensions of our perceptual physiology. Among the epistemological consequences of this account are the following: (1) The kind of correspondence that is established through theories between a subject and reality is related rather to a subject’s actions than to a faithful representation of every aspect of the world, (2) it suggests a strong emphasis on the creative aspects of knowledge acquisition, and (3) it urges a reassessment of the evolutionary epistemology of theories.

本文提出了一种生物符号学的概念，即非故意的有机理论，它是基于对哲学家诺伍德·罗素·汉森（Norwood Russell Hanson）对理论的阐述和动物学家雅各布·冯·埃克斯库尔（Jakob vonUexküll）的生物理论进行的比较和比较。有人认为汉森关于科学理论及其与观测的关系的提议本质上是符号学的，汉森对理论，观测与现实之间的关系的描述与冯·埃克斯库尔关于生物与环境之间的关系的观点之间存在对应关系。这种对应关系支持了对理论的描述，这些理论将其描述为我们的感知生理学的有机延伸。这种说法的认识论后果包括：