Today I have had half a book writing day, with some 250 words added to my book manuscript in spe Being and Sign, and a draft made of the table of contents. This was writing day #36 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 29 book writing days, to date.
This rounds up September, with 3.435 words written and 7 writing days (of which 6 article writing days).
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 600 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome), which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. This was writing day #35,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 7 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have given the second seminar in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, in two rounds, with altogether some 95 students attending. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topics included types of knowledge and good sources, with Anne Beth Våga contributing on the latter.
Today I have given the fourth lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topics were metaethics and virtue ethics.
Today I have presented my paper «Prospective Studies of Contested Climate Pasts and Futures» online at the conference "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", which has been held at Lund University, Sweden, September 23-24th. My paper was part of session 5, «Contemporary society».
See also:
Abstract for Lund conference: "Prospective studies of contested climate pasts and futures"
Today I have had half an article writing day, with 1000 words altogether written on my entries "Environmental quality" and "Pollution" for the book volume CONTRADICTionary: An Almanac of Resistance (ed. Bernd Herzogenrath), which is to be published by Open Humanities Press. As mentioned previously, this book is organised around the ca. 200 words the Trump administration is attempting to ban from science.
This was writing day #34,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 6 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 400 words added to the draft of my first Store Norske Leksikon (encyclopedia) article, "Ulvejakt" (wolf hunting). This was writing day #34 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 5,5 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 100 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome), which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. This was writing day #33,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 5 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have given the third lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topic was theory of science, with emphasis on Popper and Kuhn, and the classification of psychology.
Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 100 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome), which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. This was writing day #32,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 4 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have had a writing day, divided into half an article writing day and half a book writing day. This included adding some 100 words to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome), which I co-write with Svein Tuastad, and planning for proof-reading of the book chapter «Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered. Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene», which is forthcoming in an anthology edited by Benedikt Jager and Marius Timmann Mjaaland and published by Karl Alber Verlag.
It also included starting writing on my next book manuscript, Being and Sign, with some 300 words written and some plans made.
This was writing day #32 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 3,5 of the writing days devoted to article writing, and 28,5 book writing days, to date.
I have (finally) reached 100 citations, or more specifically 101 citations, so far in 2025, on the count of Google Scholar (cf. my profile). This is the fifth year in a row my research attracts 100+ citations per year.
My paper «Prospective Studies of Contested Climate Pasts and Futures» has been scheduled for oral presentation at the conference "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", which takes place at Lund University, Sweden, September 23-24th, on Wednesday September 24th at 11.55–12.15, as part of session 5, «Contemporary society». The presentation will be given digitally.
Today I have given the first seminar in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, in two rounds, with altogether some 95 students attending. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topics included how to have good discussions and use of references, with Anne Beth Våga contributing on the latter.
Today I have given the second lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topic was epistemology, with emphasis on Kant´s philosophy, and an introduction to critical thinking.
In January, the website ReFill at University of Stavanger published a literature recommendation article titled "Mennesket er ikke alene" (Humans are not alone), written by Alessandro Falcetta and featuring some of my texts in Norwegian on animals and environmental issues.
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 450 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome), which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. This was writing day #31 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 3 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date.
Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 100 words added to the chapter "Environmental semiotics", which I co-write with Jonathan Beever for Springer´s Handbook of environmental philosophy. This was writing day #30 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with 2 days devoted to article writing days so far.
Today I have taken part in the grading of a master thesis in child welfare at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, which I also supervised.
Today I have given the first lecture in Ex.phil. this Autumn, at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. The course is part of the bachelor in psychology as well as the year-long study in psychology. Today´s topic was epistemology. About 100 students attended.
Today I have had half an article writing day, with work done on the revision of the article "Friluftsliv in therapeutic residential care: When staff take youth out to find a way in", which I co-write with Joakim Jiri Haaland. This was writing day #29,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st).
I am currently a member of the editorial board of six academic journals:
– Biosemiotics (Springer)
– Eikon – Journal on Semiotics and Visual Culture (Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal)
– Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (Elsevier)
– Journal of Quality-of-Life Studies (JQoLS) (UPM Press, Malaysia)
– TRACE ∴ Finnish Journal for Human-Animal Studies (Finnish Society for Human-Animal Studies)
– Politics and Animals (Lund University, Sweden)
I have agreed to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Quality-of-Life Studies (JQoLS) as part of the international advisory panel. The new journal is to be published by UPM Press, which is a university press related to Universiti Putra Malaysia, a public Malaysian university.
In July, the article "Mind the Gap: Perceived economic inequality and the well-being gap around the globe" was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. I am credited as a co-author of the article based on data gathering in Norway as well as input to the content and framing of the article. This is the third article from the Live Better research consortium where I am credited as co-author.
Reference:
Á. Sánchez-Rodríguez, M. R. Górski, M. Joshanloo, K. Krys, M. Tønnessen, L. M. W. Li, P. Akaliyski, B. W. Haas, M. A. Hussain, F. Guemaz, M. Boussena, N. Iter, O. Vlasenko, V. M-C. Lun, V. L. Vignoles, N. A. Aminnuddin, İ. Işık, L. Ngom-Dieng, M. Fülöp, D. Igbokwe, M. Adamovic, R. B.a Garðarsdottir, N. Soboleva, J. Teyssier, F. K. Glückstad, J. Park, J. Zelenski, V. W. L. Yeung, J. Chun Yeung, E. K. Yau, J.-W. Yang, B. Yakhlef, C. Xing, A. Wasiel, C.-M. Vauclair, W. van Tilburg, V. Turjacanin, K. T. T. Trà, C. Torres, C.-R. Sun, B. Sokolov, R. Sobhie, D. Sirlopú, H. Selim, A. M. Rocha, M. Rizwan, I. Polacková Solcová, Z. Pavlovic, E. Palikot, M. Olechowski, A. Okvitawanli, D. Ochoa, K. Nowak, M. Nader, K. Myslinska-Szarek, E. Murdock, O. Mosca, M. Mosanya, F. Mokadem, L. Mohammed, A. Malyonova, A. Malyonov, H. Lee, M. A. Lauri, N. Kronberger, A. Kocimska-Bortnowska, M. Kluzowicz, N. Kascakova, M. A. Imran, E. R. Igou, K. Henk, R. Hasanov, B. Gjoneska, A. Gavreliuc, M. Garvanova, V. Gamsakhurdia, A. Espinosa, A. D. Espinosa, J. Deltour, V. Costin, A. Bolatov, A. Baltin, R. Bakyono-Nabaloum, R. Asif, L. Appoh, P. Anic, L. Andrade, A. Almakaeva, M. Al-Zoubi, G. Akello and M. H. Bond (2025). Mind the Gap: Perceived economic inequality and the well-being gap around the globe. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506251345937
Today I have attended the third meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics held this year (I also attended the second, in June, whereas I fell sick on my way to the first in February). The meeting was held digitally. Among other topics we discussed the organisation of this year´s Animal ethics conference (Dyreetikkonferansen), which takes place November 17th in Oslo. We also touched upon a consultative statement on trade-offs between climate concerns and animal ethics concerns in food production which a work group which includes me currently works on.
I have just composed the abstract below for the organisers of the upcoming conference "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", which is to be held September 23–24, at Lund University, Sweden (I have been invited to contribute).
***
Prospective studies of contested climate pasts and futures
While most researchers in relevant fields of study may agree that the current scale of human impact on current ecology is massive and unprecedented, there is no agreement on the time frame for the Anthropocene. Like the epoch itself, the current conceptualisation of the Anthropocene remains a work in progress. We are currently situated in the middle of an ongoing climate crisis. On this background, it may come as no surprise that both how we should understand recent modern history, and how we should understand possible climate futures, is contested. In this presentation I will outline how biosemiotics and Umwelt theory can contribute to prospective studies of past and future lifeworlds. I will then proceed to discuss how climate futures may be construed by way of a few examples. The presentation will draw on my articles «The study of past Umwelten» (Discipline Filosophische, 2023) and «What can be known about future Umwelten?» (The American Journal of Semiotics, 2019) as well as my forthcoming book Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement (Bloomsbury Academic). In relation to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), I will touch upon the influence ideas about CCS have had on envisioned climate futures over the last 30 years or so. Disturbingly, there is no consensus among researchers or regulators on the relevant time scales for CO2 storages. Short retention times for CO2 in CO2 storages (<10,000 years) may delay rather than solve the problem of climate change, in effect exposing future generations to the risk of anthropogenic climate change caused in our time. Lastly, I will look into the challenges of long-term waste management in the contexts of radioactive waste and CO2 storage, respectively, including the challenge of communicating across multiple generations.
Short bio: Morten Tønnessen (born 1976) is a professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger, Norway. Academic (b)log: https://utopianrealism.blogspot.com
According to Google Scholar (cf. my profile) my research has to date attracted 1.441 citations (+22 since July 31st). This includes 96 citations so far in 2025 (+18 since July 31st). My h-index remains 21 and my i10-index 43.
I now have 10 publications with 40+ citations each.
My 2023 article "Wasted GDP in the USA" is now listed by Google Scholar - with 9 citations (including 4 in 2025). This places it as my 44th most cited text along with three other papers.
