Peer-reviews conducted for IACS6

I have recently conducted peer-review of two proposed panels (with individual abstracts) for the Sixth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS6), which is to take place in Rome, Italy, June 4-6th 2026, as a member of the conference´s scientific committee.

Plenary "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis" held at IACS5

Yesterday I gave my plenary talk "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis" at The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics, with the theme “Crises of meaning”, organised at Division of Cognitive Semiotics at the Centre for Language and Literature at Lund University, in Lund, Sweden (August 15-17th). Some 50-60 people attended.

IACS-5 plenary addresses to be broadcast live via Zoom; links

The plenary addresses at The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS-5), to be held in Lund, Sweden, August 15-17th with the conference theme "Crises of meaning", will be broadcast live over Zoom. All six are listed with their respective Zoom links in this document.

My Plenary Address “The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis” is held Friday August 16th at 17:15-18:15, and can be followed live online by using this Zoom link.

IACS5 plenary talks abstracts now online

Abstracts of the six plenary talks for the 5th conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics have now been shared online.

These include:

Elena Cuffari: "Autonomy, participation, and sense-making as sites of crisis: studying the technopolitical situatedness of linguistic bodies"

Hans-Georg Moeller: "The Crisis of Authenticity: Meaning under Conditions of "Profilicity""

Cornelia Müller: "Multimodality and aesthetic experience: How feeling guides the ways we make sense"

Jamin Pelkey: "The birth of wild meaning: Facing crises of alienation and disenchantment"

Komarine Romdenh-Romluc: "Break-downs and times of crisis"

Morten Tønnessen: "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis"

IACS5 plenary speech scheduled for Friday August 16th

My plenary speech at The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics, with the theme “Crisis of meaning”, which is to be held at Lund University in Sweden August 15-17th, has according to a preliminary programme been scheduled for presentation Friday August 16th at 17.30-18.30.

See also:

Abstract for IACS5 (Lund, Sweden): "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis"

6 abstracts reviewed for IACS5

This week I have helped review 6 abstract submitted to the organizers of the Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS-5), which is to be held August 15-17, 2024, in Lund, Sweden,

IACS5 plenary speakers presented in cognitive semiotics newsletter

The 2023 newsletter of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics, IACS News, published in December, includes presentation of the six plenary speakers for the forthcoming IACS conference to be held in Lund, Sweden this Summer (August 15th to 17th), with the theme "Crises of meaning". 

The newsletter can be read in full here.

Abstract for IACS5 (Lund, Sweden): "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis"

I have just composed and submitted the abstract below for my plenary talk at the 5th conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS5), to be held in Lund, Sweden in August 2024.

***

The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis 

Morten Tønnessen  

Edmund Husserl (1954, 1970) famously thematized science´ forgetting of the lifeworld. In a somewhat similar way, Jakob von Uexküll (1956 [1940]) decried the ´meaning-blind´ biology of his time. Drawing on the fact that the experience of animals is constrained by the sensory and behavioral repertoire of each organism and takes place within the context of species-specific configurations of time and space (von Uexküll 1928), the Umwelt theory he developed was programmatically framed as subjective biology. While he applied the Umwelt perspective to humans as well, particularly in von Uexküll 1956 [1934], unfortunately, human Umwelten remained undertheorized in his work. Hannah Arendt, however, discussed the human condition and observed a crisis within the natural sciences play out as an inability to be relatable to normal speech and thought (Arendt 1958). Although she saw the significance of our evolving global perspective and power, which is today often conceptualized in terms of the Anthropocene (Steffen et al. 2011), Arendt failed to acknowledge the decisive difference our anthropocentric bias makes in matters of ontology and epistemology alike. From the perspective of Umwelt phenomenology, today´s environmental crisis can be conceived of as an ontological crisis (Tønnessen 2003) involving the extinction and marginalization of myriads of lifeworlds. As is well established, the environmental crisis is characterized by extensive anthropogenic environmental change. This can be conceptualized in terms of Umwelt transitions (Tønnessen 2009). The ongoing nature crisis is most blatantly observable in rapidly escalating climate change, and the well-documented marginalization of wild terrestrial mammals, which now account for only 4% of terrestrial mammalian biomass (Bar-On et al. 2018). Arguably, the last decades´ scientific neglect, theoretically and methodologically, of the agency, subjectivity, and worth of living beings has contributed to this intensifying and deepening nature crisis. With its objectivistic, mechanistic perspective on the natural world, the scientific enterprise has in practice facilitated and helped justify a real-life objectification, de-souling, exploitation, and commodification of living beings as mere means and resources. It is high time to replace this outdated and harmful outlook with a philosophically based scientific framework more fit for the 21st century. One way forward entails acknowledging the semiotic agency of all that lives (Sharov & Tønnessen 2023), and start planning for the socio-ecological and economic transformations that will be required to solve the environmental crisis in the next few decades (Tønnessen 2021). This will have to involve a serious rethinking of the human condition (Tønnessen, forthcoming).  

REFERENCES 

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

Bar-On, Yinon M., Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo 2018. The biomass distribution on Earth. PNAS 115(25) (2018): 6506–6511. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711842115. Includes Supplementary Information Appendix. 

Husserl, Edmund 1954. Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die Tranzendentale Phänomenologie (Husserliana: Gesammelte Werke 6). Edited by Walter Biemel. Extended version, with appendices. Haag: Martin Nijhoff. 

Husserl, Edmund 1970. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy. Translation of (and selection from) Husserl 1954 by David Carr. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. 

Sharov, Alexei and Morten Tønnessen 2021: Semiotic Agency: Science beyond Mechanism (Biosemiotics 25). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89484-9 

Steffen, Will, Jacques Grinevald, Paul Crutzen, and John McNeill. The Anthropocene: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 369 (2011): 842–867. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327  

Tønnessen, Morten 2003. Umwelt Ethics. Sign Systems Studies 31 (1): 281–299. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2003.31.1.13  

Tønnessen, Morten 2009. Umwelt Transitions: Uexküll and Environmental Change. Biosemiotics 2 (1): 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-008-9036-y  

Tønnessen, Morten 2021. Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century. Sign Systems Studies 49 (1/2): 12–62. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2021.49.1-2.02    

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 42). Springer. 

Uexküll, Jakob von 1928. Theoretische Biologie. 2nd edition. Berlin: J. Springer. 

Uexküll, Jakob von 1956 [1934/1940]. A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans – with A Theory of Meaning (Posthumanities 12). Transl. Joseph D. O¨Neil. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press.

Conference website for Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS-5)

The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS-5), to be held August 15-17, 2024 in Lund, Sweden with the theme "Crisis of meaning", has now launched its conference website. I figure as one of the plenary speakers, along with Hans-Georg Moeller, Cornelia Mueller, Jamin Pelkey and Komarine Romdenh-Romluc. Abstract submissions are due January 15th, 2024.

Peer-review for IACS4

I have recently peer-reviewed two abstracts for the 4th conference of International Association for cognitive semiotics (IACS4), to be held in Germany this summer.

3 abstracts reviewed for IACS3

I have just completed my peer-review of thee abstracts submitted to IACS3, the third conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics, as one of several members of its Program Committee.

In Scientific Committee for IACS3, Toronto

I have silently accepted to be appointed, again, as a member of the Scientific Committee of the 3rd conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS), shich is to be held on Toronto July 13-15th.

Member of Scientific committee of IACS 2

I´m a member of the Scientific Committee of the second conference of the International Association for cognitive semiotics (IACS).

See also:

9/13 abstracts peer-review for IACS 2

9/13 abstracts peer-review for IACS 2

Yesterday I peer-reviewed 9 abstracts - or rather 13, since one was a theme session, for IACS 2, the second conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics.

IACS 2 to be held in Lublin, Poland - CFP out now

The Second Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS) will be held June 20-22, 2016 at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland. Abstract deadline is January 10th 2016, for other deadlines see the conference webpage.

Invited plenary speakers include Maxine Sheets-Johnstone and Eva Jablonka.

IACS General Assembly held - Todd Oakley new President

Yesterday I attended the General Assembly of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS), which was held during the IACS' first conference, in Lund, Sweden. Todd Oakley was elected new President.

Scientific Committee for IACS 1 listed online

The organisers of the September 25-27th 2014 First International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS) Conference, which will take place in Lund, Sweden, have now listed the Scientific Committee members on the conference website.

See also:

Appointed member of scientific committee for cognitive semiotics conference

Cognitive semiotics membership

I have become a member of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS), which was founded May 29th in Aarhus, Denmark, during the Eight Conference of Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS).