I have just composed and submitted the abstract below to the organisers of the 22nd annual conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology (NoSP), "Phenomenology in the Anthropocene", which is to be held at Tampere University, in Tampere, Finland, April 22–24, 2026.
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What characterizes a more-than-human phenomenology suitable for the Anthropocene?
To address this question, it is pertinent to start out with the observation that the Anthropocene discourse is at its core a discussion about humanity´s impact on the natural environment that emerged from geology. At the same time, the Anthropocene has also over the last several years been vividly discussed from the perspectives of social sciences and the humanities. There is a disconnect between how the Anthropocene has been discussed in a natural science setting, and how it is being discussed in social science and humanities settings, with third-person objective perspectives predominating in the first and subjective perspectives prevailing in the others.
In my view, to be suitable for the circumstances of the Anthropocene, a more-than-human phenomenology must meet the following criteria:
* It must account for human lifeworlds as well as non-human lifeworlds
* It must account for human phenomena and non-human phenomena within a consistent and comprehensive theoretical framework
* It must be capable of explaining how human agency can lead to material changes in the natural world, and how these material changes affect living conditions
* It must be capable of tackling the problem of human bias which appears e.g. in the form of anthropocentrism and zoocentrism, and which distorts our thinking about nature
I will present a version of more-than-human phenomenology that draws on biosemiotics and Jakob von Uexküll´s Umwelt theory which I will argue meets the abovementioned criteria. The relevance of such a brand of phenomenology is supported by the fact that Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty both engaged with von Uexküll´s work in their discussions about animal lifeworlds. By outlining the main characteristics of a more-than-human phenomenology suitable for the Anthropocene, I simultaneously address key issues related to the nature, scope, and purpose of ecophenomenology.
