Abstract
This chapter offers an excursion both into the sign theory of Charles S. Peirce, which has a deep connection to his understanding of emotions, and into William James' behavioural theory of emotions, which posits that bodily expressions precede the formation of emotions, the latter thus being the consequence, not the cause of the concurring bodily changes.
The theoretical findings of both thinkers are also supported by their application to the field of the cognitive semiotics of music.