Husserl's theory of signs. Comments on the First Logical Investigation

Roman Jakobson praised a juvenile text by Husserl Zur Logik der Zeichen (Semiotik) as "an attempt to classify categories of signs and to answer to the question in which sense language, i. e., our most important system of signs, 'promotes and on the other hand hinders Thought'." However, it is only in his First Logical Investigation that Husserl gives a mature account of his theory of signs. This largely exegetical paper gives an analysis of Husserl's First Logical Investigation. We discuss Husserl's text against the background of the semiotics of the Habsburg Philosophy (Twardowski, Meinong), of early analytical philosophy (Frege) and of post-Fregean philosophy of language.