Tønnessen, Morten 2016. En ny teori om alt? Drude von der Fehr (red.), Den levende kroppen: Mot en ny forståelse av menneske og natur. Vidarforlaget 2016. Bokanmeldelse. Salongen – nettidsskrift for filosofi og idéhistorie (Salongen.no). Published December 15th 2016. URL: http://www.salongen.no/?p=11352
Tønnessen, Morten 2016. Historicizing the Cultural Semiotics of Wolf and Sheep. Pakistan Journal of Historical Studies 1(2) (Special Issue on “Emotions, Humans and Animals”): 76–101. doi:10.2979/pjhs.1.2.03.
Environmental PhilosophyPakistan Journal of Historical Studieslo Squaderno
Uexküllian phenomenology
AbstractWe are located at the junction of nature and culture, and of semiotics and phenomenology. Can they be reconciled? More particularly, can subfields such as biosemiotics and eco-phenomenology be mutually enriching? I, for one, believe that they can. Uexküllian phenomenology is derived from the Umwelt theory of the Baltic-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944). Its basic premise is that we can assume the universal existence, in the realm of life, of a genuine first person perspective, i.e., of experienced worlds. This assumption characterises Uexküllian phenomenology and makes it a genuine perspective within phenomenology. In this paper I prepare the ground for such a phenomenology by treating the notion of phenomenology, the relation between semiotics and phenomenology, Husserl’s notion of Lebenswelt, and finally the notion of Uexküllian phenomenology. The purpose is to make the case that Uexküllian phenomenology is justified, and to situate it within phenomenological and semiotic thought at large.
ReferenceTønnessen, Morten 2015. Uexküllian phenomenology. Chinese Semiotic Studies 11(3): 347–369.
Umwelt theory revisited – contemporary Uexküllian thought in 10 points
AbstractKey elaborations of Jakob von Uexküll´s (1864–1944) Umwelt theory can be summarised in 10 points:1. Uexküllian phenomenology represents a unique phenomenological perspective.2. The ontological niche of a being can be defined as the set of contrapuntal relations it takes part in.3. Not all Umwelten are species-specific.4. Not all Umwelten can be meaningfully studied in isolation.5. Umwelten undergo Umwelt transitions.6. In many cases, it makes sense to refer to the Umwelten of different life stages, or to acknowledge that species-specific developmental patterns determine the character of the Umwelt.7. An Umwelt trajectory represents an aggregate, collective equivalent of Uexküll’s notion of the Umwelt-tunnel.8. Umwelt mapping results in ontological maps.9. The tripartite Umwelt model distinguishes between Umwelt objects as encountered, anticipated and conceptualized.10. An Umwelt ethics rests heavily on fundamental features of the Umwelt theory.
ReferenceMaran, Timo, Morten Tønnessen, Kadri Tüür, Riin Magnus, Silver Rattasepp and Nelly Mäekivi (2016). Methodology of zoosemiotics: concepts, categorizations, models. In Maran, Tønnessen and Rattasepp (eds), Animal Umwelten in a changing world – Zoosemiotic perspectives (Tartu: Tartu University Press 2016), 29–50.
Tønnessen, Morten 2016. Arne Johan Vetlesen. The Denial of Nature. Environmental philosophy in the Era of Global Capitalism. Routledge 2015. Book review. Environmental Philosophy 13(2): 319–322.
Timo Maran, Morten Tønnessen, Kristin Armstrong Oma, Laura Kiiroja, Riin Magnus, Nelly Mäekivi, Silver Rattasepp, Paul Thibault and Kadri Tüür, forthcoming, 2016. Animal Umwelten in a changing world – Zoosemiotic perspectives (Tartu Semiotics Library 18). Edited by Timo Maran, Morten Tønnessen and Silver Rattasepp. Tartu: Tartu University Press.
Tønnessen, Morten, Kristin Armstrong Oma and Silver Rattasepp (eds) (2016). Thinking about animals in the age of the Anthropocene. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books. Partially available in Google Books.
The search image as link between sensation, perception and actionAbstractMorten Tønnessen
As part of his Umwelt theory, a theory on the subjective, experiential worlds of animals, Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) introduced the notion of the search image (Suchbild). A search image is an imagined object that an animal or human being has in mind as it searches for something. The search image plays a central role in what I have termed the mediated Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered indirectly by way of some mediation (e.g. memory, fantasy, anticipation). It is generally related to an animal´s agenda- or interest-driven matching of something it is searching for with something in its environment. Animals need search images in order to navigate in their environment, in order to pursue some of their biological needs, and in order to direct attention to their immediate or prioritised needs. They are also key to understanding how perception works as distinguished from sensation, and how an animal´s perception and action are connected. Generally, Umwelt codes – codes that are required to perform the functions of perception and action – include neural codes and ecological codes (and cultural codes as well in the case of human beings). The search image acts as an intermediary between perception and action, and between the mediated Umwelt and the core Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered directly. In consequence, we can assume that neural codes and ecological codes coalesce in the functioning of the search image. The imagined object has the form of a schema, and encountered objects may or may not be perceived as fitting with the anticipated schema. The perception of a match may furthermore be either correct or incorrect. Object recognition occurs when an encountered object is correctly perceived as fitting with an anticipated schema. But search images, with their implied schemata, may also be confused with actual perception images of encountered objects. Perception is not an entirely accurate endeavour. Nevertheless, the search image is an indispensable instrument in the perceptual tool box of any animal with a saturated Umwelt. In addition to contributing to a proper understanding of how sensation, perception and action are linked, studies into the phenomenon of search images can shed light on some present puzzles in cognitive science. As an example, contemporary science posits that underlying, action-related brain activity by far precedes our subjective experience of choosing to act in a certain way. This has even been taken to imply that human beings do not in fact have free will. In some of these cases, however, the functioning of search images can help explain why it is that action-related brain activity appears to precede the experience of having made a choice of action. In short, when an animal or a human being operates with a search image, we anticipate encountering the imagined object. Accordingly, we act not only in response to encountered objects, but also in response to imagined ones. And whenever an encountered object is in hindsight correctly perceived to be a match to an imagined object, we may have acted in response to that anticipated object before we could confirmatively perceive it as a match to our search image.
1. Introduction
2. Biosemiotic Epistemology: To Know, What Life Knows
3. A Foray into Cartesian Territory
4. To be Healthy and Live Well
5. Umwelt Theory and Constructivism
6. Why Uexküllian Phenomenology is Phenomenology
7. Biosemiotic Empiricism or Rationalism?
Sharov, Alexei, Timo Maran and Morten Tønnessen. Comprehending the semiosis of evolution. Editorial. Biosemiotics 9(1) 1–6. Published online April 4th 2016 (DOI: 10.1007/s12304-016-9262-7).
Tønnessen, Morten, Riin Magnus and Carlo Brentari 2016. The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt. Biosemiotics 9(1): 129–149. Published online March 15th 2016 (doi: DOI 10.1007/s12304-016-9255-6), with Appendix (Supplementary Material available online).
Velmezova, Ekaterina 2016. On semiotic (un)predictability: Tartu Summer School of Semiotics 2015. Sign Systems Studies 44(1/2): 248–250.
The 2015 conference was organized by the Department of Semiotics of the University of Tartu, the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies and the Estonian Semiotics Association. Tiit Remm (the main organizer), Kalevi Kull, Kristin Vaik, Lauri Linask and Tyler Bennett participated in the work of both the scientific committee (that, besides them, also included Inesa Sahakyan, Luis Emilio Bruni, Morten Tønnessen, Peeter Torop, Sara Lenninger and Timo Maran) and of the organizing team (which also included Katre Pärn, Liina Sieberk and Maarja Vaikmaa). The conference was attended by over a hundred scholars from more than twenty countries [...]
Tønnessen, Morten, Alexei Sharov and Timo Maran (2016). Biosemiotics: Making sense of nature. Published in Springer´s blog LifeScienceToday. URL: http://blogs.springer.com/lst/biosemiotics-making-sense-nature/.
Beaver, Jonathan, Morten Tønnessen and Yogi Hendlin. Interview with Wendy Wheeler on biosemiotic ethics. Zeitschrift für Semiotik. To be published December 2016.
Beever, Jonathan and Morten Tønnessen, forthcoming, 2016. Justifying Moral Standing by Biosemiotic Particularism. Zeitschrift für Semiotik. To be published December 2016.
Tønnessen, Morten, Jonathan Beever and Yogi Hendlin, forthcoming, 2016. Introducing biosemiotic ethics. Introduction to Special Issue “Biosemiotic ethics”. Zeitschrift für Semiotik. To be published December 2016.
[A]nalyses of the ontology of ethics in biosemiotics have been somewhat circumvented. Instead, articles on ethics in biosemiotics have tended to immediately jump to discussions of ethical and moral questions that might be approached in a biosemiotic frame, such as the value accorded to different inhabitants of the biosphere (Tønnessen 2003; Beever 2012).
Tønnessen M. Umwelt ethics. Sign Syst Stud. 2003;31(1):281–99.
UTOPISM.***In the long run, nothing else is realistic.***Welcome to the English language blog of Morten Tønnessen, Associate professor at University of Stavanger's Department of Health Studies.
UTOPISM.***In the long run, nothing else is realistic.***Welcome to the English language blog of Morten Tønnessen, Associate professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger's Department of Social Studies.
Tønnessen, Morten 2013. Menneskeveldet [The human empire]. In Sollund, Ragnhild, Morten Tønnessen og Guri Larsen (eds) 2013, Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen, menneskets tidsalder, Oslo: Spartacus Forlag/Scandinavian Academic Press, 37–56.
Arne Johan Vetlesen 2015. The Denial of Nature. Environmental philosophy in the era of global capitalism. London and New York: Routledge.
