On the Relations Between Non-Verbal Signs and Norms

Abstract Although the presumption that norms are necessarily expressed by words has traditionally prevailed in the scientific community, some scholars are challenging verbal-centrism in the normative domain. While sympathising with this cause, this paper argues that not every case in which a norm is expressible by a non-verbal sign is a case in which that norm is genetically or ontologically word-free. After mapping the different relations that can exist between a sign and a norm, the paper shows that the holding of many of them should not be taken per se as evidence for the thesis that some norms are genetically or ontologically word-independent, no matter that the sign is non-verbal. In particular, the paper analyses why some eminent examples of normative non-verbal signs like red traffic lights, traffic warden’s outstretched arms, referee’s whistles, and word-free no smoking signs, are not good evidence for the claim that some norms are not produced by or do not consist of verbal signs.