Today I have given the sixth seminar in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, in two rounds. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topics included feedback on the compulsory assignment that I recently assessed and exam preparations.
This concludes my teaching this Autumn semester.
Today I have given the twelfth and final lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s main topic was political philosophy and specifically political justice.
Recordings of the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2025 (Dyreetikkonferansen 2025) are available on the YouTube channel of The Norwegian Veterinary Institute. The topic was "Når dyr dør. Perspektiver på livets slutt" (When animals die. Perspectives on the end of life). Note that this full-day event was all held in Norwegian.
See also:
Panel discussion chaired at Animal Ethics Conference 2025 on animals´ death
Today I have assessed 20 submitted compulsory assignments in Ex.phil. for a second time (that is, I assessed revised versions). Moreover, I assessed three extra assignments related to insufficient compulsory presence at seminars. The assignments are considered as pass/fail.
See also:
My chronicle «Livet i Jorden» (literally: Life in Earth) has been published as my annual guest commentary in the magazine of Dyrebeskyttelsen, a Norwegian animal protection NGO, Dyrenes forsvarer no. 4, 2025, (pp. 4–5). The same text was previously published by forskning.no with a different headline.
See also:
Popular science chronicle on life on and in Earth published at forskning.no
This Autumn I have written a text for an art catalogue, "Åfjord Art Month 2025", in relation to an art exhibition that takes place this month (November 2025). Specifically, I wrote the text «Reinsdyrets usynlige verden» for Ingvild Melberg Eikeland´s art installation at this art exhibition, which takes place in Åfjord municipality (pp. 48–50 in the art catalogue). An English translation, «The reindeer´s invisible world», is also included in the art catalogue (pp. 51–53). Eikeland´s art work and my text draws on the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll.
Yesterday my encyclopedia article "Ulvejakt" was published by Store Norske Leksikon. This is my first encyclopedia article. A couple of weeks ago edits I made were published in three other encyclopedia articles, "barneskolen", "dødsstraff" and "Thomas Kuhn".
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 100 words added to the chapter on environmental semiotics which I co-write with Jonathan Beever. I also proof-read my forthcoming chapter "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered. Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", volunteered to write a book review for Biosemiotics, and considered a call for papers on the history of climate economics from the journal Œconomia – History | Methodology | Philosophy.
This was writing day #43,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 12,5 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date. According to current plans, this concludes my writing days in November, with a paltry 3 writing days altogether, and 654 words written.
Here is an updated reference for my contributions to the forthcoming book publication CONTRADICTionary:
— Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming, entries in CONTRADICTionary: An Almanac of Resistance (eds. Bernd Herzogenrath and Nicol A. Barria-Asenjo), entries: “Environmental quality” and “Pollution”. Open Humanities Press.
See also:
#34,5; contributions for CONTRADICTionary written and submitted (23 September 2025)
Norway has recently transitioned from one research information system to another. My profile at Nasjonalt vitenarkiv (NVA) is here. Research information data has been automatically imported from the Current Research Information System in Norway (Cristin), which will no longer be updated. From the onset, my NVA profile starts out with 393 registration posts from the period 2012-.
Today I have had a book writing day, with some 50 words added to my book manuscript in spe Being and Sign. I did some readings and mostly worked with improving the chapter disposition (with altogether 14 chapters and soon four times as many subchapters). This was writing day #42,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 31 of the writing days devoted to book writing to date.
My article "Wasted GDP in the USA", which was published Autumn 2023, now has 17.000 accesses. This compares to about 14.000 accesses by March this year, and likely makes it my most read article, ahead of "The ethics of laying hen genetics" (2019) which now stands at 16.000 accesses.
See also:
My 10 most read Springer Nature articles; ca. 60.000 accesses in total (March 2025)
Over the last three weeks or so I have assessed 96 submitted compulsory assignments in Ex.phil. (120 including non-submitted assignments). The assignments are considered as pass/fail.
Today I have given the eleventh lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s main topic was political philosophy and specifically political freedom.
Today I have presented my paper "More-than-human phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation" in the research seminar "Phenomenology in research», held by and at the University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The research seminar featured three lectures by Scott Churchill, along with my presentation, a presentation on reflexivity by Olga Lehmann, and a concluding panel/discussion session. The seminar was opened by head of department Liv Sand. Some 20 people attended.
Today I have attended a meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, at Næringslivets hus in Oslo. Among other things, we discussed the consultative statement we are in the process of writing on climate change and animal ethics, and recent developments in the ethical work that is done in relation to Norway´s Government Pension Fund Global.
Today I have attended Norway´s Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen) 2025, which had the theme "Når dyr dør. Perspektiver på livets slutt" (When animals die. Perspectives on the end of life) and was held at Litteraturhuset in Oslo. I chaired the panel discussion which took place at the end of the day. The panel included all the presenters, namely Espen Gamlund (UIB), Elisiv Tolo (Animalia), Helen Øvregaard (Vet-Talk), Steffen Tretvoll (Norsk Vegansamfunn), Jon M. Arnemo (Universitetet i Innlandet), Åsa Maria O. Espmark. More than 150 people were registered for the conference, which is organised by Norway´s Council for animal ethics.
Today I have given the fifth seminar in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, in two rounds, with altogether some 85 students attending. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topics included criticism, and authority and truth.
Today I have given the tenth lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s main topic was political philosophy and specifically the legitimacy of the state and form of government.
Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 450 words added to my book manuscript in spe Being and Sign. This was writing day #41,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 30 of the writing days devoted to book writing to date.
Today I have attended a meeting in the program committee for Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, at the campus of University of Stavanger.
Today I have had what ended up as half an article writing day, with planning and outline work done in relation to a philosophy handbook chapter I am co-writing with Jonathan Beever on environmental semiotics in the context of environmental philosophy. This was writing day #41 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 11,5 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have given the ninth lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s main topic was free will and determinism.
Today I have attended this Autumn´s board meeting of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS). Topics included initial plans for the next NASS conference, to be held in 2027.
My popular science chronicle on life on and in Earth which was published in Forskersonen at forskning.no yesterday (see yesterday´s post) has done quite well online, with close to 500 likes and 50 shares on Facebook. It also appears to be the third most read text right now in Forskersonen (though not at forskning.no generally).
Today a chronicle of mine, titled «Vi har et ansvar for livet vi ikke ser» (literally, We have responsibility for the life we don´t see), was published in Forskersonen at forskning.no.
According to Google Scholar (cf. my profile) my research has to date attracted 1.470 citations (+16 since October 1st). This includes 119 citations so far in 2025 (+10 since October 1st). My h-index remains 21 and my i10-index 44.
