Umberto Eco`s Theory of Unlimited Semiosis in the Context of Western Thought of Twentieth Century

The study shows that Umberto Eco's concepts of semiotic theory represent a self-referencing universe and constitute a critical reflection of all the thematically important theories of the twentieth century (in particular, Philosophy of language of L. Wittgenstein, Phenomenology of M. Heidegger, post-structuralism of G. Deleuze, M. Foucault). As a result of his work, Umberto Eco presents an original explication of notions "perception", "semiosis" and "interpretation". There's much attention in the work paid to the epistemological metaphors, gleaned by the Italian thinker of the cultural and philosophical legacy of the West (models of the organization of knowledge and perception of the symbols) and included in the conceptual apparatus of U. Eco. The paper also presents the evolution of the ideas of Umberto Eco with special emphasis on the theory of text interpretation, formulated by him in 90-s. A special chapter is devoted to the problem of the limit of interpretation as to the one of the major hermeneutical problems in general, and for the creativity of the Italian thinker.