"Existential universals" revised

I have just carried out a small revision of my paper "Existential universals: Biosemiosis and existential semiosis", which will soon appear in Chinese Semiotic Studies.

"Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" published: Reference; abstract

Some days back I already received an email from Springer with links to the 110th volume of Analecta Husserliana, where my article "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" appears. The reference is:

Morten Tønnessen 2011. Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology. P. 327-340 in Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (ed.) 2011: Phenomenology/Ontopoiesis Retrieving Geo-cosmic Horizons of Antiquity (= Analecta Husserliana 110).

Abstract:

German-Baltic biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) did not regard himself as a phenomenologist. Neither did he conceive of himself as a semiotician. Nevertheless, his Umwelt terminology has of late been utilized and further developed within the framework of semiotics and various other disciplines – and, as I will argue, essential points in his work can fruitfully be taken to represent a distinctive Uexküllian phenomenology, characterized not least by an assumption of the (in the realm of life) universal existence of a genuine first person perspective, i.e., of experienced worlds. Uexküllian phenomenology is an example of – a special case of – a semiotics of being, taken to be a study of signs designed so as to emphasize the reality of the phenomena of the living. In the course of this paper, I will relate Uexküllian phenomenology to the eco-existentialism of Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899–1990), ecophenomenology (including David Abram and Ted Toadvine), and semiotics of nature (biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, zoosemiotics). I will further make a few remarks on the partial resemblance between Uexküllian phenomenology and Tymieniecka’s “phenomenology of life”, and its difference from the “phaneroscopy” of Peirce.

"Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" to be published in Analecta Husserliana

My article "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" is about to be published as a chapter in the forthcoming volume 110 of Analecta Husserliana. I only got to see an email about its proof-reading this afternoon (I had not received any notice about the acceptance of my text for publication). The book is scheduled for publication already in August.

At 14 pages, my text summarizes my notions of 'semiotics of being' and 'Uexküllian phenomenology' and relates them among other things to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka's 'phenomenology of life', Peter-Wessel Zapffe's 'biosophy', the eco-phenomenologies of David Abram and Ted Toadvine and the 'Phaneroscopy' of Charles Sanders Peirce.

Two key quotes:

"If we believe that eco-phenomenology, or environmental philosophy in general, is all about human perceptions, we commit a categorical mistake, and miss out on the heart of the matter."

"There can thus be no sharp distinction between philosophy and the life sciences, but rather a gradual transition from the more-or-less philosophical/generic to the more-or-less scientific/specific."

The title of Analecta Husserliana vol. 110 (CX) is Phenomenology/Ontopoiesis Retrieving Geo-Cosmic Horizons of Antiquity, and it is as always edited by A.-T. Tymieniecka. My contribution has been placed as chapter 27, in section VI, "Nature, World, Continuity", along with chapters by Francesco Totaro, Sibel Oktar and Catia Giaconi.

NATURE AND ARTIFICE IN MANIFESTING/PRODUCING THE BEING
Francesco Totaro

SEMIOTICS OF BEING AND UEXKULLIAN PHENOMENOLOGY
Morten Tonnessen

THE PLACE: WHERE WE SEE THE WORLD AS A LIMITED WHOLE
Sibel Oktar

LINES FOR CONTEMPORARY CONSTRUCTIVISM TO REVISIT AND REINTEGRATE THE ANCIENT SENSE OF CONTINUITY BETWEEN MEN AND NATURE
Catia Giaconi

Tartu: Alf Holmborg lecture, and more (semiotic economy)

Today I attended Alf Hornborg's lecture at the Department of semiotics in Tartu "Submitting to Objects: Fetishism, Dissociation, and the Cultural Foundations of Capitalism". Previously I have heard him present at an environmental history conference (the First World Congress of Environmental History, Copenhagen, 2009), but this time around I have also gotten to meet him in person (yesterday a group of us were out for dinner). I consider him, like Almo Farina, a fellow practioner of 'semiotic economy', and have suggested he checks out Farina's work.

I have a lot to learn from Alf Hornborg's work, and I am eager to read more by him from the crossroads ecosemiotics / ecological economics / world-systems theory. As became clear during today's lecture, however, I have some reservations with regard to how accurate his depiction of the global economy is (and how far we can get in understanding the current and future economy by basing our theorizing on models derived from 19th century examples).

Reference for "I, Wolf: The Ecology of Existence"

The anthology Environment, Embodiment and Gender (note: not ... and History) has now been published by Bergen-based Hermes Text. Reference for my contribution:

Tønnessen, Morten 2011. I, Wolf: The Ecology of Existence. Pp. 315-333 in Johannes Servan and Ane Faugstad Aarø (eds.): Environment, Embodiment and Gender, Bergen: Hermes Text

The publisher's presentation of the book reads like this:

Environment, Embodiment & Gender

An anthology on Man, Nature and the concepts of Nature

What can phenomenology do to clarify eco-philosophical matters? This essential question was the center of our attention during the conference ”Environment, Embodiment and Gender” hosted by the University of Bergen in 2008 in honor of the centennial of Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961). Inspired by the papers by Monika Langer, Ted Toadvine, Joanna Handerek and Kirsti Kuosa, among others, the idea of this anthology emerged and has developed from eco-phenomenology at its core, to encompass a broad range of environmental philosophy brought to life by the careful, phenomenological attention to the concrete living experience and the lifeworld. Together these essays constitute a handful of thought-provoking perspectives and ideas to ways of reforming our modern concept of nature – one of the greatest and most acute challenges of our time. Among the authors we find Charles Brown, David Abram, Gunnar Skirbekk, Claus Halberg, Fern Wickson and Svein Anders Noer Lie, and more.

Price 30 $ / 198,- NOK

Phenomenology paper revised

A week ago or so I revised and expanded my paper 'Semiotics of Being and Uexküllian Phenomenology', to be considered for publication in Analecta Husserliana as part of the proceedings of the 60th international congress of Phenomenology, arranged in Bergen in August. A section "Concluding remarks" has been added. The expansions are in part reflected in the first part of this addition to the abstract (I also respond to some criticism):

I will further make a few remarks on the partial resemblance between Uexküllian phenomenology and Tymieniecka’s ‘phenomenology of life’, and its difference from the ‘phaneroscopy’ of Peirce.

About the international phenomenology congress in Bergen

On a belated note, I took part in the 60th international congress of phenomenology in Bergen August 10-13, where I presented my paper "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology" for a limited but qualified audience in a group session.

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This was my first encounter with the World Phenomenology Institute, lead by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. Registering for the conference, I became a member (by choice) of International Society of Phenomenology and Sciences of Life, which seems, unfortunately, not to have much activities.

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My paper will be revised by October 1st, and hopefully published in the conference proceedings, which will appear as a volume of Analecta Husserliana.

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In Bergen I further mingled with local phenomenologists, and joined the email list of a University of Bergen phenomenology group.

Phu

A few nights back, I finished "Steps To a Semiotics of Being" (9000 words).

C o n t e n t s :
From Self to World
The Value of Nature
Umwelt Terminology
Concluding Remarks on Umwelt Mapping

Just now I finished "Wolf Land" (4000 words).

C o n t e n t s :
The Case of the Scandinavian Wolves
The Scandinavian Wolf Wars
The Land
Wilderness - Idea or Reality?

Borth articles are for the forthcoming special issue of Biosemiotics "Semiotics of Perception".

Contribution to world phenomenology conference accepted

I have been notified that my submission to The 60th International Congress of Phenomenology (to be arranged in Bergen in August), "Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology", has been accepted by the organisers.

Inclusion in the programme is dependent on the delivery of a full-length paper by May 1st.

All submitted papers are copy-righted for the first option of publication by the Springer journal Analecta Husserliana.

Contribution to the conference "Bodily Phenomenology"

I have just submitted my contribution to the conference Bodily Phenomenology, to be arranged in Sweden in May.

MORTEN TØNNESSEN
INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY AND SEMIOTICS, UNIVERSITY OF TARTU, ESTONIA

INTERCORPORALITY AND RELATIONAL BEING
NATURE CONSIDERED AS AN INTERCORPORAL BODY (THE BODY OF ALL BODIES)

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED TO THE CONFERENCE BODILY PHENOMENOLOGY
TO BE ARRANGED BY THE CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
MAY 19-21, 2010
AT SÖDERTÖRN UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN.

The body and the world are obviously related. Not only is the body the immediate centre of the physical world for any given perceiving (and acting) subject. Not only is any perception of ‘the world’ necessarily mediated by the body (organism) of the perceiver. We can further observe that the living world (nature) is in actual fact constituted intercorporally, in other words by the numerous relations that exist between the countless bodies about which we have come to learn.

For me, as a biosemiotician, embodiment is perhaps the most central general topic possible. Consciousness is but the top of the iceberg – mind, in the elemental sense of awareness of something, is everywhere in nature, since every living being is capable of, and dependent on, interpreting, understanding and acting upon its relevant surroundings. Mind, then, is more-than-human, even more-than-animal, and embodied mind must in its most general sense be taken to signify the embodiment not necessarily of an anthropoid, more or less articulate consciousness, but of a highly diverse repertoire of oftentimes diffuse awarenesses.

This is nature. An intercorporal body – a global web of bodies attuned to each other and routinely in conflict with each other – the body of bodies. This is nature – where body relates to body, as partner, as predator, as prey – a world built on bodies all partaking in relational being, a kind of existence wherein the particular beings (you, me, Muki) are constituted in and by their relationships with others.

In the course of this talk, I will allude to elements of the philosophy of embodiment in the work of Jakob von Uexküll, David Abram, Gabriel Marcel and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. My broader project is that of contributing to the development of an Uexküllian phenomenology worthy of the designation semiotics of being.

Phenomenology conferences II

I am about to submit a proposal for a paper for the 60th congress of the The World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research (The 60th International Congress of Phenomenology), to be arranged in Bergen, Norway, next August.

Title:

Semiotics of Being and Uexküllian Phenomenology

Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology, 2010

I have submitted the following...

Contribution to the 8th annual conference of
THE NORDIC SOCIETY FOR PHENOMENOLOGY
(Nordisk Selskab for Fænomenologi)

under the general theme

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NEW ORIENTATIONS: IN PHENOMENOLOGY
to be arranged at Södertörn University College
in Stockholm, April 22-24, 2010

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Individual presentation
by Morten Tønnessen

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Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, University of Tartu
Vindmøllegangen 1, 4631 Kristiansand, NORWAY
Kuu 39-64, 50 104 Tartu, ESTONIA
Academic homepage: http://utopianrealism.blogspot.com/

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Suggested title:
Semiotics of Being and Uexküllian Phenomenology
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German-Baltic biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) did not regard himself as a phenomenologist. Neither did he conceive of himself as a semiotician. Nevertheless, his Umwelt terminology has of late been utilized and further developed within the framework of semiotics and various other disciplines - and, as I will argue, essential points in his work can fruitfully be taken to represent a distinctive Uexküllian phenomenology, characterized not least by an assumption of the (in the realm of life) universal existence of a genuine first person perspective, i.e., of experienced worlds.

In the course of the presentation, I will briefly relate Uexküllian phenomenology to
a) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),
b) the eco-existentialism of Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899-1990)
c) eco-phenomenology (including David Abram and Ted Toadvine),
d) and semiotics of nature (biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, zoosemiotics)