Biosemiotics 17(2) published; special issue "Umwelt theory and phenomenology" featuring 16 articles; correspondence article published in issue

Biosemiotics´ special issue "Umwelt theory and phenomenology", which is guest-edited by Carlo Brentari and me, has now been published as volume 17, issue 2 of the journal. The special issue features an editorial and 15 original research articles, and spans over pp. 265-585 of volume 17 (321 pp). 

Updated, complete references:

— Brentari, Carlo & Morten Tønnessen (2024). Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’. Editorial. Biosemiotics 17(2): 265–272. Published online July 19th 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09583-w  

— Brentari, Carlo & Morten Tønnessen (guest editors, 2024). “Umwelt theory and phenomenology”. Special issue of Biosemiotics, vol. 17, no. 2 (August 2024). https://link.springer.com/journal/12304/volumes-and-issues/17-2 

The issue also contains 9 more articles which are not part of the special issue. This includes my correspondence text "Understanding subjecthood and experience", first published online in March. Updated and complete reference: 

— Tønnessen, Morten (2024). Understanding subjecthood and experience. Correspondence. Biosemiotics 17(2): 733–735. Published online March 15th 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09557-y  

First Ex.phil. seminars

Today I have given the first Ex.Phil. seminar this term, in two rounds, as part of the University of Stavanger´s bachelor degree in psychology. The topics included summary of content from the first two lectures, a question session, oral discussions, and written exercises.

#9

Today I have had half an article writing day, devoted to an article on Norwegian democracy that I co-write with Svein Tuastad. So far this Autumn I have had 9 writing days including 4,5 article writing days and 4,5 book writing days. 

Altogether in August I logged 9 writing days and 5.779 words written.

Second Ex.phil. lecture

Today I have given the second lecture in Ex.Phil. this term, as part of the University of Stavanger´s bachelor degree in psychology. The topics were epistemology and critical thinking.

Peer-review for Semiotica

Earlier this year, I have done a follow-up peer-review for Semiotica.

Fact-checking Norway´s Prime minister on Norway´s demographic future

Today I attended a lecture by Norway´s Prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre which was held at the University of Stavanger. Early on in the presentation, he made a false claim about Norway´s future demographic development, stating that in 2060, half of Norway´s population would be 65 years or older (see slide below). If that was indeed true, this would have been sensational - half the population will be in retirement age by 2060! But alas, it is a false claim, as is very clear if one reads the government's "Long-term Perspectives on the Norwegian Economy 2024" (Perspektivmeldingen 2024) which was presented earlier in August (particularly p. 8 and 172-174). In fact, less than 1/3 of the population is expected to be 67 years or older in 2060 - which means that twice as many will be younger than 67, compared to those 67 or older. 

I made the Prime minister aware of this during the Q & A session. In response, he said that if what I said was true, he apologized - but that "the challenge remains". Sure, but for any informed discussion about demographic challenges, we must start by getting the facts right.

#8,5

Today I have had a book writing day, with some 600 words added to my book manuscript Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Autumn I have had 8,5 writing days including 4,5 book writing days and 4 article writing days.

Rountable discussion "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis" at WCEH4 attended

Today I have taken part (digitally) in the roundtable "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis", convened by Matteo Sartori & Julia Prakofjewa, on the last day of the 4th World Congress in Environmental History, which has been held in Oulu, Finland and online August 19-23rd. My brief introduction was related to my article “Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century”; I also took part in the discussion. Some 10 people attended physically and online altogether.

#7,5

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 250 words added to the article "Friluftsliv in therapeutic residential care: Taking adolescents out to find a way in" which I co-write with Joakim Jiri Haaland. So far this Autumn I have had 7,5 writing days including 4 article writing days and 3,5 book writing days.

First Ex.phil. lecture

Today I gave the first lecture this Autumn in Ex.phil. for students in the University of Stavanger´s bachelor in psychology. Besides giving an overview of the course, the topic was epistemology.

Applied Umwelt theory article revision finished

Today I have made the last few edits in my revision of the article "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology", with some 100 words added to the text. I have now resubmitted the manuscript to Sign Systems Studies.

#7

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 450 words added during the revision of my article "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology". So far this Autumn I have had 7 writing days including 3,5 article writing days and 3,5 book writing days.

UIS The Greenhouse presentations at the Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4)

Here is an overview of presentations and events incvolving scholars from The Greenhouse - Center for Environmental Humanities at the Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4), held August 19-23rd at University of Oulu, Finland and online with the theme “Transitions, transformations and transdisciplinarity: Histories beyond history”.

"The study of past Umwelten" presented digitally at Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4)

Today I have presented my paper "The study of past Umwelten" at The Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4), held August 19-23rd at University of Oulu, Finland and online with the theme “Transitions, transformations and transdisciplinarity: Histories beyond history”, specifically in session 2 of the panel “Environmental biography as a methodological challenge”. About 15 people attended altogether.

See also: 

Discipline Filosophiche special issue on Uexküll now published, with "The study of past Umwelten"

Full article in UIS Brage

Peer-review for Philozofia

Theis year I have done a peer-review for the Slovak academic journal Philozofia.

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.

#6,5

Today I have had an article writing day devoted to the article "Friluftsliv in therapeutic residential care: Taking adolescents out to find a way in" which I co-write with Joakim Jiri Haaland, with some 300 words written in net terms. So far this Autumn I have had 6,5 writing days including 3 article writing days and 3,5 book writing days, with more than 4.000 words written altogether.

#5,5

Today I have had a book writing day devoted to work on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, #3,5 this Autumn, with some 650 words written. So far this Autumn I have had 5,5 writing days including 2 article writing days.

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.

#4,5

Today I have had half a book writing day devoted to work on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, #2,5 this Autumn, with some 550 words written. So far this Autumn I have had 4,5 writing days including 2 article writing days.

#4

Today I have had half an article writing day devoted to the revision of my article "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology", with some 150 words written in net terms. So far this Autumn I have had 4 writing days including 2 article writing days and 2 book writing days.

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"

"Ecological semiotics" chapter accepted for publication in Encyclopedia of Ecology

I have been notified that my chapter "Ecological semiotics" has been accepted for publication in the 3rd edition of Elsevier´s Encyclopedia of Ecology (forthcoming in 2024/2025).

#3,5

Today I have had a book writing day devoted to work on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement,  #2 this Autumn, with some 800 words written. So far this Autumn I have had 3,5 writing days including article writing days.

#2,5

Today I have had an article writing day devoted to revising my article for a special issue of Sign Systems Studies and titled "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of phenomenological triangulation and descriptive phenomenology", with some 400 words written. So far this Autumn I have had 2,5 writing days.

#1,5

Today I have had a book writing day devoted to work on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement, with some 1.150 words written. So far this Autumn I have had 1,5 writing days.

#0,5

Today I have had half an article writing day devoted to work on my second Henrik Steffens chapter, "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered: Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", with some 200 words written. This is my first (half) writing day this Autumn, on my first day back at work.

Interviewed on wolf and sheep cultural imagery on regional radio

Today I was interviewed live on regional radio, in the NRK P1 program "Lokalen" by NRK Rogaland. The interview was featured under the headline «Har ulven alltid vært skummel? Filosof Morten Tønnessen» (Has the wolf always been scary? Philosopher Morten Tønnessen). The journalists in the studio was Jostein Gjertsen and Øystein Otterdal. The context for the interview is that a wolf is currently in the south of the region and has reportedly killed three sheep.

The interview can be heard here, at 02.12.47-02.18.44.