Copenhagen biosemiotics presentation "A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition & the environmental crisis" available online in PDF format

My presentation "A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition & the environmental crisis" from the 23rd Gathering in biosemiotics, held in Copenhagen, Denmark in August earlier this year, has been made available in PDF format online, along with other conference presentations.

Sigmund Ongstad given Biosemiotic Achievement Award for 2022 in Copenhagen

Yesterday I announced the winner of the Biosemiotic Achievement Award for 2022, Sigmund Ongstad, for his article "Simple Utterances but Complex Understanding? Meta-studying the Fuzzy Mismatch between Animal Semantic Capacities in Varied Contexts", at the 23rd gathering in biosemiotics, held in Copenhagen. I have taken part in this year´s Selection panel along with Ludmila Lackova and Anti-Veikko Pietarinen.

"A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition & the environmental crisis" presented in Copenhagen

Today I have presented my paper «A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition & the environmental crisis» at the 23rd Gathering in biosemiotics, which is held in Copenhagen, Denmark (July 31st - August 4th). Some 50-60 people attended.

Photo: Katarzyna Machtyl

Presentation scheduled for 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics (Copenhagen)

My presentation «A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis» has been scheduled for presentation at the 2023 Gatherings in Biosemiotics 23, which is to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, at University of Copenhagen’s Social Sciences Faculty Library July 31st–August 4th, at Wednesday August 2nd at 16.30-17.00.

«A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis» to be presented at 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics, Copenhagen

I have been notified that my paper «A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis» has been accepted for oral presentation at the 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to be held in Copenhagen July 31st – August 4th.

Abstract for 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics: "A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis"

I have submitted the abstract below to the organizers of the 23rd gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, July 31st - August 4th. 

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A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis   

Morten Tønnessen

Professor of philosophy, University of Stavanger, Norway   

ABSTRACT 

In this presentation I will present the book chapter “A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis” (Tønnessen, forthcoming). The chapter presents a biosemiotic perspective on the basic situation for human beings and that of other organisms, with an emphasis on the subjective experience of sentient animals, and the sign use of all lifeforms. The human condition is portrayed as traditionally conceived, and then revisited in the new context of the current environmental crisis. In recent decades, the expression ‘The Human Condition’ has been strongly associated with the political philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). In her book with the same name (Arendt 1958), she stresses that “[t]he earth is the very quintessence of the human condition”, and yet argues that “the “human artifice of the world separates human existence from all mere animal environment”. In this sense, in her view, human reality is distinguished from the reality of any other living being on Earth, despite our shared ecological circumstances. A cornerstone of the chapter is an analysis of the materiality of the environmental crisis, and how the massive changes humans have caused in the physical environment can be understood in light of the semiotic agency of humans and other living beings. Experiential aspects of the environmental crisis are highlighted. The aim of the chapter is to improve our understanding of our species´ place in the natural world, our historical role in causing a global crisis for life, and how we can move forward towards a more sustainable future. As Masatake Shinohara (2020) has proposed, “what conditions human beings in the most fundamental sense includes not only the world of the human artifact but also the world of earthly things”, and in light of this, “the consideration of the human condition should be fundamentally reformulated” by making the human world “open to the earthly things that vastly expand outside of the human artifice”.

REFERENCES 

Arendt, Hannah (1958). The Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 

Shinohara, Masatake (2020). “Rethinking the Human Condition in the Ecological Collapse”. The New Centennial Review 20(2): 177–203. 

Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming. A biosemiotic perspective on the human condition and the environmental crisis. In Lenart Škof, Sashinungla, Sigridur Thorgeirsdottir (eds.), Elemental-Embodied Thinking for a New Era (Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures). Springer.

23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics to be held in Copenhagen July 31st to August 4th

The dates for the 23rd Gathering in Biosemiotics, to be held at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, have now been set to July 31st - August 4th. Abstracts are due March 20th - see the conference webpage which includes a Call for papers.