I've been working through an online text called Semiotics for Beginners. "Semiotics" is a philosophical discipline that attempts to study the nature of meaning - the relationship between words and their definitions, the symbolism of all forms of communication. As a philosophical discipline and not a science, there is no premium on experimentation or data gathering, which in my opinion is a clear flaw, but the field has been around for a while, and it has made some insights.

One distinction that semiotics makes is between "denotation" and "connotation". A denotation is the simple definition for a word. A connotation is everything else associated with it as part of the culture. So for example, "The Moon" is the planetoid that revolves around the earth, but with it are connotations like lunacy, night time, craters, the man in the moon, cheese, tides, and the month - all of these other associations it has in our conscious and unconscious minds.

The denotation is the boiled down essence of a word, similar to the way in which a drawing is the essence of a picture. One plant field guide I have says that drawings are better ways of identifying plants than actual photographs. That may sound strange, but a photograph provides too much information, and doesn't point out common features that are consistent from plant to plant. A drawing simplifies and highlights the features in the plant that are more important. Then when you are in the field, you can concentrate on finding those feature in the plants you are observing.

The law is similar. "A person who represents themself has a fool for a lawyer" the saying goes. This goes even for lawyers representing themselves to some degree. I do family law on a regular basis, but with my clients it is easier to pick out the important legal and factual elements of my client's case. I can be objective, like a finder of fact would be. The facts and circumstances of my own legal family court issues can get too cluttered with all the emotional baggage and extraneous information. I am an element of the photograph and find it more difficult to see the drawing.

The hard sciences rely on their ability to create sharp definitions. Denotation, not connotation, is the emphasis. Deoxyribonucleic acid, electromagnetism, hydrogen peroxide. Not a lot of connotation to "the spleen". Math is another area. Quanity is about as purely denotive as it gets.

Literary endeavors, on the other hand, emphasize the connotation. Nothing makes an English teacher happier than a good metaphor, allusion or shading. Layered structure, multiple meanings, depth - those are the mark of good literature. "The frightening consequences of electroshock therapy" at the top of the page here is an ironic, intentionally layered reference. Science fiction doesn't emphasize symbolic layering to the same extent mainstream literature does, which is probably part of the reason it is not as respected as a form of literature.