Today I held my presentation "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of descriptive phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation" digitally at the 24th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is held at the University of the free state in Bloemfontein, South Africa, as a hybrid event. Some 17 people attended online, in addition a number of people attended physically.
The manuscript for the book Mars and the Earthlings. A realistic view on Mars exploration and settlement is approaching completion and will be submitted to Springer this week. I will be credited as a co-author of three chapters, cf. below. Altogether 61 experts have co-authored the book.
Updated preliminary reference:
— forthcoming, 2024. Mars and the Earthlings. A realistic view on Mars exploration and settlement (eds. C. Verseux, M. Gargaud, K. Lehto & M. Viso). Co-author of chapter 4 (“Mars Historical and ethical context: Past, present and imagination”), chapter 8 (“Toward permanent settlements on Mars (from 1000 to 100 000 people)”), chapter 9 (“Mars as a planet B?”). Springer. Planned publication 2024.
A second article based on Live better data will soon be submitted. Preliminary reference:
— in review, 2024, with Brian W. Haas, Xiaobin Lou et al. Aspirational life satisfaction moderates the link between actual life satisfaction and negative emotional experience: A large scale cross-cultural study. Emotion.
See also:
"Live better" project: Stavanger dataset delivered
First "Live better" article submitted; credited as co-author
I have over the last few days taken part in the grading of 35 exam papers in the University of Stavanger´s bachelor in psychology course in law and ethics, along with course coordinator Eva Næsheim, with responsibility for the ethics answer, which was one of four assignments.
I am interviewed in the Khrono news story "Antall faglige ansatte vokser raskere enn antall studenter" (The number of scientific staff grows faster than the number of students) which was published today, along with Minister of Research and Higher Education, Oddmund Hoel, and Director of the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), Sveinung Skule, by journalists Eva Tønnessen and Hege Larsen. The topic of the news story is a new release of an annual report on the state of higher education in Norway.
Today I chaired and facilitated the 90% seminar of Joakim Jiri Haaland, at the University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. Some 5-6 people attended, including Terje Jostein Halvorsen, the external commentator, and Ulrich Dettweiler, the internal commentator.
I have been notified by Aschehoug that the anthology text book Ex.phil. for sosialfag, which I edited, will be shredded. I will take over 25 copies of the book, with the rest being shredded. The book will remain available as an e-book.
Today I have had an article writing day, #45 this Spring, with some work done on revising the article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" (Can welfare and the environment be measured in extension of GDP?) which I am co-writing with Jan Karlstrøm.
See also:
The article Hva Arne Næss kan lære oss om økonomifagets tverrfaglighet (What Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics), which I have co-written with Jan Karlstrøm and Thomas Hylland Eriksen, was published in Norsk Filosofisk Tidsskrift today.
Reference:
Tønnessen, Morten, Jan Karlstrøm and Thomas Hylland Eriksen 2024. Hva Arne Næss kan lære oss om økonomifagets tverrfaglighet (What Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics). Norsk Filosofisk Tidsskrift 59(1-2), 21–36.
The article is in Norwegian but has an English abstract:
Arne Næss criticized modern economics for its lack of philosophical awareness and interdisciplinarity, suggesting that economists should draw inspiration from the field’s origins in philosophy. Næss’ views on how the economy should be organized and studied are significant, particularly in light of his differentiation between a deep and shallow understanding of environmental issues. In this article, we will review Næss’ critique of economics as an academic discipline and discuss his proposals for transforming our approach to economics, considering both its historical development and the ongoing environmental crisis. Specifically, we will emphasize the importance of philosophy, ecology, and social anthropology as foundational elements for economics. Our primary reference is the Norwegian-language chapter “New tasks for political economy” from Næss’ major work in environmental philosophy, Ecology, Community and Lifestyle. In the article, we deal with Næss’ view on the use of models and the relationship between theory and reality, the fundamental connection between ecology and the economy, what role normative systems thinking can play for economics, and how economics can be informed by economic anthropology. In conclusion, we will reflect on the implications of our analysis of Arne Næss’ economic viewpoints for the future of economics.
Our article is mentioned in the editorial of the same issue, written by Cathrine Victoria Felix and Heine Alexander Holmen.
Excerpts:
Å bedrive akademisk filosofi innebærer å utforske og analysere grunnleggende spørsmål på en systematisk og metodisk måte. Dette inkluderer alt fra å undersøke ulike filosofiske tradisjoner, argumenter og perspektiver, til å utvikle egne teorier og konsepter. Med andre ord: akademisk filosofi er et mangfoldig felt med et bredt spekter av metoder. Vi håper dette nummeret av Norsk filosofisk tidsskrift presenterer dette mangfoldet på en god måte. Nummeret inneholder tre fagartikler som tar for seg så ulike temaer som examen philosophicum, prostitusjon og økonomifaget.
...
Arne Næss kan beskrives som en titan innen norsk filosofi. I artikkelen «Hva Arne Næss kan lære oss om økonomifagets tverrfaglighet» skriver Morten Tønnessen, Jan Karlstrøm og Thomas Hylland Eriksen om Næss’ kritikk av det moderne økonomifaget. I lys av Næss’ kritikk argumenterer forfatterne for viktigheten av å inkludere filosofi, økologi og sosialantropologi som grunnlag for studiet av økonomi. De diskuterer fremtidens økonomifag og reiser spørsmål om modellbruk, forholdet mellom teori og virkelighet og normativ systemtenkning.
This week I have taken part in the grading of 5 bachelor theses in social work at the University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, along with an external examiner.
I have recently graded 8 exam papers in the University of Stavanger´s master course in environmental psychology.
Today I have had half an article writing today, with some 500 words added to the editorial "Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’" which I am co-writing with Carlo Brentari in relation to the forthcoming special issue of Biosemiotics we are guest editors for. So far this Spring I have had 44 writing days.
Today I have had what ended up as half an article writing day, with some 200 words added to the editorial for the special issue of Biosemiotics I am co-editing with Carlo Brentari, "Umwelt theory and phenomenology". So far this Spring I have had 43,5 writing days.
I have been notified that my conference paper "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of descriptive phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation" has been scheduled for presentation on Friday 21st of June at 10:30, during the 24th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to be held June 17-21st in Bloemfontein, South Africa (University of the free state) and online. I will attend the conference digitally.
This is the conference abstract I submitted:
Applied Umwelt theory in the context of descriptive phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation
Author: Morten Tønnessen
Affiliation: Professor of philosophy, Department of social studies, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
In earlier work, I have argued that a genuine ´Uexküllian phenomenology´ can be derived from the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll and that such a phenomenology is capable of accounting for the subjective experience of both humans and animals. With its foundation in contemporary biosemiotics, such a modern, empirically informed phenomenology is particularly relevant for the study of human-animal relations and interaction in societal and ecological settings. In a recent chapter (Tønnessen 2023) I have outlined a scientific method for conducting qualitative studies of human and animal lifeworlds by introducing a semiotically informed descriptive phenomenology. While descriptive phenomenology in its current forms is typically only applicable to the study of human lifeworlds (Giorgi 2009), a reiteration of descriptive phenomenology that draws on Umwelt theory can be designed to be non-anthropocentric and pluralistic. In this paper I elaborate on a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology and explain how it can be applied within the humanities and social sciences as well as in a natural science context. Furthermore, I will discuss how Umwelt theory can be made use of as part of a methodology of phenomenological triangulation, in which 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives are combined in studies of one and the same study object. This methodology draws on ideas developed in cognitive semiotics by Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson, and others (e.g. Zlatev 2012). Overall, this paper aims to contribute to integrating biosemiotics and phenomenology and demonstrating the relevance of Umwelt theory for phenomenology, and vice versa.
REFERENCES
Giorgi, Amedeo (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology. Duquesne University Press.
Tønnessen, Morten (2023). Umwelt theory for practitioners: Semiotic guidelines for application in a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology. Pp. 303–314 in Open Semiotics (4 volumes, ed. Amir Biglari), volume 4: Life and its extensions. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Zlatev, Jordan (2012). Cognitive Semiotics: An emerging field for the transdisciplinary study of meaning. The Public Journal of Semiotics IV(1) (2012): 2–24.
Today I have attended a work meeting and done some work on my contributions to the forthcoming book Mars and the Earthlings, with some 300 words added to the text, mostly on the likely Martian diet and brining along of animals to Mars. So far this Spring I have had 43 writing days, including what ended up as half a writing day today.
Today I have had an article writing day with some 400 words written on the editorial "Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’" which I am co-writing with Carlo Brentari in relation to the forthcoming special issue we are guest-editing. So far this Spring I have had 42,5 writing days.
According to Google scholar (cf. my profile) my research has now attracted 1.154 citations (+20 since May 13th). This includes 88 citations in 2024 (+16 since May 13th). My h-index remains 19 and my i10-index 37.
With 88 citations so far, 2024 is already now in early June my 5th best year in terms of number of citations, after 2022, 2023, 2021 and 2016. The book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism (officially 2021 but in effect published in 2022), which I co-wrote with Alexei Sharov, accounts for 30 of the 2024 citations to date.
With 6 citations each so far, the commentary "The Evolutionary Origin(s) of the Umwelt" and the article "Recreation in the outdoors—Exploring the friluftsliv experience of adolescents at residential care", co-written with Joakim Jiri Haaland, are formally my most cited publications from 2022. They both currently rank along with other texts as my 49th most-cited texts.
With 33 citations in total, "Phenomenology and biosemiotics" (2018), co-written with Timo Maran and Alexei Sharov, is my most cited editorial.
I am credited as a co-author of an article that has just been submitted and is the first to draw on data gathering in more than 60 countries that I have taken part in, as part of the project "Live better: The culturally sensitive study into folk theories of societal development and into ideal types of well-being".
Preliminary reference:
— in review, 2024, with Arkadiusz Wasiel et al. Understanding the Connection of Position-Based Power to Social Status across Seventy Cultures. British Journal of Social Psychology.
