My 10 most read Springer Nature articles; "Wasted GDP in the USA" read 20.000+ times

According to Springer Nature, these are my most accessed Springer articles (prior rank refers to March 2025 list; as does prior number of accesses):  

1 (2). Wasted GDP in the USA (Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2023) 20.228 (14.297) 

2 (1). The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics (Mia Fernyhough et al., Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2019) 18.088 (14.986)  

3 (3). Umwelt Transitions: Uexküll and Environmental Change (Biosemiotics, 2009) 7.557 (6.175)    

4 (4). Phenomenology and Biosemiotics (Morten Tønnessen, Timo Maran & Alexei Sharov, Biosemiotics, 2018) 7.001 (5.675)    

5 (5). Jesper Hoffmeyer’s Biosemiotic Legacy (Morten Tønnessen, Alexei Sharov & Timo Maran, Biosemiotics, 2019) 4.890 (3.789)    

6 (6). Current Human Ecology in the Amazon and beyond: a Multi-Scale Ecosemiotic Approach (Biosemiotics, 2020) 4.782 (3.673)   

7 (7). Towards Synthesis of Biology and Semiotics (Alexei Sharov, Timo Maran & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2015) 3.891 (3.022)

8 (9). Comprehending the Semiosis of Evolution (Alexei Sharov, Timo Maran & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2016) 3.602 (2.892) 

9 (-) Introduction to the special issue "Umwelt theory and phenomenology" (Carlo Brentari & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2024) 3.589

10 (8). Biosemiotic Achievement Award for the Year 2020 (Claudio Julio Rodríguez Higuera & Morten Tønnessen, Biosemiotics, 2021) 3.383 (2.908) 

"Making the Umwelt Bubble of the Modern Synthesis Burst" (Biosemiotics, 2021), with its 3.112 accesses (2.552), is thus out of the list, while "The evolutionary origin(s) of the Umwelt" (Biosemiotics, 2022), with 3.344 accesses, did not quite make the top 10. Altogether Springer Nature lists 24 publications of mine with a total of ca. 94.700 accesses and some 281 registered citations. The top 10 accounts for 76.536 accesses.

See also:

My 10 most read Springer Nature articles; ca. 60.000 accesses in total (March 2025)

"My 10 most accessed articles with Springer Nature; ca. 44.000 accesses combined" (November 2023)

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  

Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’ (Biosemiotics) published online

The introduction to the special issue of Biosemiotics ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’, written by Carlo Brentari and me, has just been published online.

Reference:

Carlo Brentari and Morten Tønnessen 2024. Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’. Editorial. Biosemiotics. Published online July 19th 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09583-w 

Abstract:

This introduction to the special issue “Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology” is composed of a brief theoretical introduction to phenomenology seen as a key attitude of philosophical research, an investigation of the possibilities offered by a combined application of phenomenology and biosemiotics, and an overview of the articles that are included in the special issue. The theoretical introduction stresses the possibility of distinguishing, within phenomenology, between approaches centred on the object (in other terms, the phenomenon), and subject-centred approaches which have emerged in the wake of Kantian transcendental idealism. The connection with biosemiotics is explored for both kinds of approaches, showing how Uexküll, and many other scholars after him, have used phenomenological tools and perspectives in the study of biological meaning and meaning-making processes. For each article in the collection, the overview of the articles indicates one or two points that we believe are of the greatest interest for the reader.

#46,5; Spring summary; ca. 26.000 words written in Spring 2024

Today I have had a writing day, the final one this Spring, consisting of half an article writing day, with some writing plans made for the autumn and minor work on the editorial for the upcoming special issue of Biosemiotics "Umwelt theory and phenomenology" which I co-edit with Carlo Brentari, as well as on the second article on friluftsliv and child protection that I co-write with Joakim Jiri Haaland, and half a book writing day, with some work done related to my book manuscript Captured: CCS and the fight for the sould of the environmental movement.

Altogether this Spring I have had 46,5 writing days, with 2,5 of these being logged as book article days (vs. 7,5 planned initially) and 44 as article writing days (vs. 40 planned initially). Altogether I had one less writing day than initially planned (46,5 vs. 47,5).

With 1.709 words written in June, the least any month this semester, in Spring 2024 I have altogether logged 26.073 words written. This is almost 3.000 words more than in Spring 2023, but significantly below the ca. 36.000 words I wrote in the first half year of 2020 or the ca. 45.000 words I wrote in the Spring semester that year with the first half of July included.

#45,5

Today I have had half a writing day, with some work related to my article "Wasted GDP in major economies", with some 150 words added, the book Mars and the Earthlings (see separate post), a second "Live better" article (see separate post), and the editorial "Introduction to the special issue «Umwelt theory and phenomenology»" which I co-write with Carlo Brentari, with some 100 words added. So far this Spring I have had 45,5 writing days.

#44

Today I have had half an article writing today, with some 500 words added to the editorial "Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’" which I am co-writing with Carlo Brentari in relation to the forthcoming special issue of Biosemiotics we are guest editors for. So far this Spring I have had 44 writing days.

#43,5

Today I have had what ended up as half an article writing day, with some 200 words added to the editorial for the special issue of Biosemiotics I am co-editing with Carlo Brentari, "Umwelt theory and phenomenology". So far this Spring I have had 43,5 writing days.

#42,5

Today I have had an article writing day with some 400 words written on the editorial "Introduction to the Special Issue ‘Umwelt Theory and Phenomenology’" which I am co-writing with Carlo Brentari in relation to the forthcoming special issue we are guest-editing. So far this Spring I have had 42,5 writing days.

Second lecture given in Trento - Erasmus exchange lectures with Anthropocene theme

Today I gave the lecture “The perspective of the Anthropocene and what it says about humans´ place in nature” at University of Trento´s Department of humanities. Some 10 people attended. The lecture was given related to Carlo Brentari´s Bachelor-level course in philosophical anthropology, and was also open to the public.

Two forthcoming lectures in Trento, Italy May9th and 10th

As part of my upcoming Erasmus exchange to Italy and Slovenia I will be giving two lectures at University of Trento, in Trento. 

On Thursday May 9th at 4-6 p.m., I will give a lecture for ph.d. students titled ”Semiotic agency and the Anthropocene”.

On Friday May 10th (exact time not known) I will give a lecture for BA students on the perspective of the Anthropocene and what it says about humans´ place in nature, in a philosophical anthropology course.

Call for papers: "Umwelt theory and phenomenology" - special issue of Biosemiotics

I will be guest-editing a special issue of Biosemiotics on "Umwelt theory and phenomenology" along with Carlo Brentari. See the Call for Papers here. Abstracts are due June 15th.

Three texts cited in Brentari 2018

In "From the hiatus model to diffuse discontinuities: A turning point in human-animal studies", published online by Biosemiotics, Carlo Brentari cites three articles of mine:

• Tønnessen, M. (2009). Umwelt transitions: Uexküll and environmental change. Biosemiotics, 2(1), 47–64.
• Tønnessen, M. (2014). Umwelt trajectories. Semiotica, 198, 159–180.
  Tønnessen, M. (2016). The semiotics of predation and the umwelten of large predators. In T. Maran, M. Tønnessen, & K. Armstrong Oma (Eds.), Animal umwelten in a changing world: Zoosemiotic perspectives (pp. 150–118). Tartu: University of Tartu Press.

Excerpt (p. 10):

A good way to introduce the approach of the diffuse discontinuities as an alternative to the hiatus model is to discuss how the mentioned authors (Scheler, Gehlen, Plessner, Cassirer, and Langer) interpret the thought of Jakob von Uexküll. With impressive regularity, all of them present as the main Uexküllian concept the strict tie between the effector system (action) and the receptor system (perception) that characterises all animal organisation, but not the human life form. In other words, they make of Uexküll champion of the hiatus model [...]

The direct reading of Uexküll’s writings and the interpretation of his work given by Thomas Sebeok (Sebeok 1979, 2001), von Uexküll (1981), and many other recent scholars (Hoffmeyer 1996; Kull 1998, 2001, 2010; Deely 2004; Rüting 2004; Barbieri 2007; Magnus 2008; Tønnessen 2009, 2014, 2016; Favareau 2010; Petrilli and Ponzio 2002; Farina and Pieretti 2014; Salthe 2014; Kleisner 2015; Maran 2016) tell us another story. In Uexküll’s thought, the constitution of the Umwelt is a transcendental process through which the animal organism transforms the stimuli impinging from the outer reality in perceptive and operative signs (on the validity of this interpretation of the Umwelt concept for all levels of animal life see Brentari 2015: 89-95, 107-115); the interaction of both kinds of signs does not at all follow a mechanical immediacy, but is, instead, a sort of subject-mediated tuning of action and perception.

 

Brentari´s Uexküll book received

I have, at long last, received my copy of Carlo Brentari´s book Jakob von Uexküll - The discovery of the Umwelt between biosemiotics and theoretical biology, published by Springer in 2015 - for which I wrote the introduction chapter.

ResearchGate project "Jakob von Uexküll"

Carlo Brentari has established a "project" on Jakob von Uexküll on ResearchGate, with me among the collaborators. I have added13 publications to the project.

Full reference for Umwelt review article

Here is the full reference for our review article on the term "Umwelt", published this Spring:

Tønnessen, Morten, Riin Magnus and Carlo Brentari 2016. The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt. Biosemiotics 9(1): 129–149. Published online March 15th 2016 (doi: DOI 10.1007/s12304-016-9255-6), with Appendix (Supplementary Material available online).

Reference for Umwelt review article

Here is the final, complete reference for our review article on the term Umwelt, with page numbers:

Tønnessen, Morten, Riin Magnus and Carlo Brentari 2016. The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt. Biosemiotics 9(1): 129–149. Published online March 15th 2016 (doi: DOI 10.1007/s12304-016-9255-6), with Appendix (Supplementary Material available online).

Uexküll intro chapter available online

My 2015 chapter "Introduction: The relevance of Uexküll's Umwelt theory today", the introductory chapter of Carlo Brentari´s book Jakob von Uexküll: The Discovery of the Umwelt Between Biosemiotics and Theoretical Biology (Biosemiotics 9, Springer 2015) is available for download (given subscription) or purchase online, here. DOI is 10.1007/978-94-017-9688-0_1). The first page is available as a sample.

According to "chapter metrics" (Bookmetrix) it has been downloaded 219 times to date.

"The biosemiotic glossary project: Umwelt" published online

Our review article "The biosemiotic glossary project: Umwelt", which is 21 pp. plus a 6 pp Appendix, has been published online. Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten; Carlo Brentari and Riin Magnus. The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt. Published online March 15th 2016 (doi: DOI 10.1007/s12304-016-9255-6), with Appendix (Supplementary Material available online).

It will appear in print very soon, in Biosemiotics 9(1), April 2016.

Umwelt review article accepted for publication

I have just been informed that the article "The biosemiotic glossary project: Umwelt", which I have co-written with Riin Magnus and Carlo Brentari, has been accepted for publication in Biosemiotics. The review article will appear in #1/2016 (April).

Umwelt review article - second revision

Last Friday I revised the review article "The biosemiotic glossary project: Umwelt", which I have co-written with Riin Magnus and Carlo Brentari, for the second time. Mostly reformatting of references etc.