"What deep ecologist Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics" accepted for presentation at ISQOLS 2025

I have been notified by the organizers of the 23rd Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS 2025), “Redefining Progress: Achieving Sustainable Well-being for All”, to be held in Luxembourg July 22-25th, that my paper submission "What deep ecologist Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics" has been accepted for oral presentation. My paper will be based on a Norwegian-language article co-written with Jan Karlstrøm and Thomas Hylland Eriksen, and was submitted tied to the topic "Disciplinary Approaches to Well-Being, Happiness and Quality-of-life".

Wonderful Tour: Panelist in "Drømmen om verdensrommet" event March 5th

On Wednesday March 5th at 7-8 p.m. I will take part in the panel "Drømmen om verdensrommet" (The dream about space) at Vitenfabrikken, Sandnes, as part of the Wonderful Tour 2025 which pre-empts the Wonderful World 2025 festival in Stavanger. I will be joined by Brage W. Johansen and Runa Norheim (chair).

More info (in Norwegian): Wonderful Tour: Drømmen om verdensrommet (LinTicket)

Listed as co-author of Live Better article submitted to PNAS

I have been listed as a co-author of the article "The Meaning-or-Affluence Paradox: Wealth Undermines Meaning, Spirituality and Conformity Preserve It", which has been submitted to PNAS. The co-authorship is based on my data gathering in Norway in the Live Better research consortium.

#16,5

Today I have had what ended up as half a book writing day, with some 550 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 16,5 writing days, including 13 book writing days.

Applied Umwelt theory article published

My article "Applied umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology" has now been published, as part of the special issue "Umwelt theory". 

Reference:

— Tønnessen, Morten 2024. Applied umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology. Sign Systems Studies 52 (3/4) (special issue “Umwelt theory”, eds. Riin Magnus and Nelly Mäekivi): 315–343. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2024.52.3-4.02 

Google Scholar: 1317 citations; 2024 now best year

According to Google Scholar (cf. my profile) my research has to date attracted 1317 citations (+14 since January 10th). 193 of these are from 2024 (+6 since January 10th), now making 2024 my best year ever in terms of number of citations (beating 2022 with its 191 citations). So far in 2025 I have gathered 9 citations (+9).

My h-index remains 20 and my i10-index 38.

#16

Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 400 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 16 writing days, including 12,5 book writing days.

Economics needs philosophy - article recommendation on UIS webpage Refill

A brief article titled "Økonomi trenger filosofi" (Economics needs philosophy) by Alessandro Falcetta on Refill, a new University of Stavanger webpage focused on religion, philosophy and outlook on life, features 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 co-wrote with Jan Karlstrøm and Thomas Hylland Eriksen and which was published last year.

Excerpt:

OECD High-Level Policy Forum "New Frontiers for Social Policy: Investing in the Future" attended; question asked in panel on Climate change and social policy

Yesterday I attended the OECD High-Level Policy Forum "New Frontiers for Social Policy: Investing in the Future" at the OECD headquarters in Paris. The Policy Forum is followed by a Ministerial Meeting on Friday February 14th.

At the Policy Forum, I got to ask a question towards the end of the fourth panel which had the theme "Climate change and social policy", which can be seen in recording here.

My question read like this: 

“I´m Morten Tønnessen, and I am professor of philosophy from the University of Stavanger in Norway. And research by Daniel O´Neill and colleagues has shown that no country at all currently meets the basic welfare needs for its citizens while simultaneously having a material resource use that is environmentally sustainable. So no country is a good enough role model currently. How do we achieve high welfare levels without having too high material resource use in terms of environmental impact?”

My question is heard at 43m35s-44m17s. You can listen to the replies of panelist Kumi Naidoo, former leader of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International at 44m22s-46m22s and Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, former Minister of Social Affairs and the Labour Market and former Minister of the Environment in Iceland, at 46m25s-46m58s.

This is the third OECD event I have attended - earlier I have attended the 2018 High-Level Policy Forum on Social Policy in Montreal, Canada, the second such Policy Forum (I have thus attended two of three of the OECD´s Policy Forums on social policy). The same year I also attended the 6th OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, held in Incheon, South Korea. 

This was the first time I visited the OECD headquarters.

15,5

Today I have half an article writing day devoted to the democracy-themed article I am co-writing with Svein Tuastad. So far in Spring 2025 I have had 15,5 writing days including 3,5 article writing days.

Joined program council of Wonderful world philosophy and science festival; first meeting

Yesterday, Monday February 10th, I attended my first meeting in the program council of Wonderful World - den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, which I have now joined. The festival is organized by Kverulantkatedralen (Kåkå) in collaboration with University of Stavanger and Tou Scene. For the two last years I was a member of the editorial board of the festival, but I have now changed role. As a program council member I am more actively involved in developing the festival program.

#15

Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 600 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 15 writing days, including 12 book writing days.

#14,5

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 700 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 14,5 writing days, including 11,5 book writing days.

NASS board meeting attended

Today I attended a board meeting of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), which was focused on planning related to our forthcoming conference, NASS XIV, to be held in Tallinn, Estonia June 11-13th. The planning is led by NASS President Lauri Linask.

#13,5

Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 850 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 13,5 writing days, including 10,5 book writing days.

#13

Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 400 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 13 writing days, including 10 book writing days.

#12,5; reference for forthcoming Sign Systems Studies article

Today I have half an article writing day, with proof-reading done on an article that will soon appear in Sign Systems Studies.

Reference:

— Tønnessen, Morten 2024, in production. Applied umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology. Sign Systems Studies 52 (3/4): 315–343. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2024.52.3-4.02 

See also an earlier post, from mid-December, where I wrote that I conducted proof-reading of the same article, though that was proof-reading of a different kind - what I did today was the typeset proofs. 

So far in Spring 2025 I have had 12,5 writing days including 3 article writing days.