Paperback edition of "Bloomsbury Semiotics" forthcoming in 2026

My chapter "Semiotics in ethology and zoology", published in volume 2 of the 4 volume set Bloomsbury Semiotics, will later this year be republished in a Paperback edition. According to Bloomsbury Academic the Paperback edition will be available from September 7th, 2026 - but it can already be pre-ordered.

Updated reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2022. Semiotics in ethology and zoology. Book chapter, in Bloomsbury Semiotics (4 volumes, ed. Jamin Pelkey), volume 2, Semiotics in the Natural and Technical Sciences (ed. Jamin Pelkey and Stéphanie Walsh Matthews), pp. 75–91. Bloomsbury Academic. Hardback edition 2022 (9781350139329); paperback edition 2026 (ISBN 9781350641853).

4 abstracts submitted for 15th world congress of semiotics

I have just submitted the following 4 abstracts - all based on chapters, of which one has been published and three are forthcoming - for the 15th world congress of semiotics, which is to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, August 30th to September 3rd:

Semiotics in ethology and zoology 

Morten Tønnessen 

Contribution to the panel “Semiotics in the disciplines: progress and priorities”  

KEYWORDS: zoosemiotics, ethology, zoology, Umwelt theory  

ABSTRACT 

Today, zoosemiotics is arguably the theoretically and empirically soundest approach to “taking the animal´s perspective”. The chapter on which this presentation is based (Tønnessen, forthcoming) presents semiotic studies in ethology and zoology, starting with foundational work and contemporary developments and proceeding to relevant methodologies and prospective future studies. The conception of zoosemiotics as a field of study has evolved considerably since Thomas Sebeok coined the term in 1963, and currently signifies a far more comprehensive field than what Sebeok’s original definition of zoosemiotics as “the scientific study of signalling behaviour in and across animal species” indicates (1963: 465). Given the contemporary notion of zoosemiotics, the semiotic study of animals cannot simply be understood as a synthesis between semiotics and ethology; it furthermore engages and intersects with ecology, cultural studies and other fields of study where animals appear in one form or another. In modern science, the agency and subjectivity of animals has tended to be neglected. More research is needed on how humans relate to animals, and more research is needed on how animals relate to humans, including by making further connections between semiotic studies of animals and phenomenology.    

REFERENCES 

Sebeok, T. A. (1963). Review. Language, 39: 448–466. 

Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming. Semiotics in ethology and zoology. In: Bloomsbury Semiotics (4 volumes, ed. Jamin Pelkey), volume 2, Semiotics in the Natural and Technical Sciences (ed. Stéphanie Walsh Matthews). Bloomsbury Academic. 

***

Nosology and semiotics*  

Morten Tønnessen 

Professor of philosophy 

Department of social studies 

University of Stavanger Stavanger 

Norway

ABSTRACT 

Semiotic concepts such as ‘sign’ and ‘symptom’ have been applied in medicine ever since ancient Greece. On this background, a semiotic perspective on nosology may be relevant and informative, particularly regarding the recognition of diseases. This chapter provides an overview of key works in semiotics on the study of medicine in general and nosology in particular. It presents a biosemiotic perspective on human health, starting with the ‘Umwelt’, the organism´s subjectively experienced lifeworld, and ending with ‘endosemiosis’, the sign processes that are internal to the body and relate to somatic phenomena. The chapter contributes to biosemiotic medicine by commenting on how such an approach can be understood as process-based medicine, the way in which it can bridge human and animal health studies, and how it can be understood as involving a conception of the human being as a system of interrelated sign systems. It concludes by making remarks on how organ crosstalk can be understood within a biosemiotic framework.  

* This presentation builds on Tønnessen, forthcoming.  

KEYWORDS Biosemiotics, endosemiosis, biosemiotic medicine, One Health, nosology  

REFERENCE 

Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming. Nosology and semiotics. In: Carlo Guido Musso & Adrian Covic (eds.), Organ Crosstalk in Acute Kidney Injury: Basic Concepts and Clinical Practices. Springer Nature.

***

Phenomenology and semiotics  

Morten Tønnessen 

Professor of philosophy 

Department of social studies 

University of Stavanger Stavanger 

Norway  

In the chapter on which this presentation is built (Sharov & Tønnessen 2021), we discuss the phenomenological tradition within philosophy with emphasis on representative phenomenological positions on subjectivity, sentience, consciousness and self-consciousness, and make the argument that giving phenomenology a biosemiotic grounding will make it more comprehensive. Even though both Husserl and Heidegger, two classics of phenomenology, acknowledged that animals have subjective lifeworlds, their respective phenomenologies were clearly anthropocentric. The same goes for most mainstream versions of contemporary phenomenology. Heidegger states this anthropocentric bias plainly when, after referring to the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll, he claims that animals are “poor in world”. The Umwelt theory offers an alternative, more pluralistic framework for phenomenology – a phenomenology beyond the human, with a biosemiotic basis. Von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory was discussed by Merleau-Ponty and has further inspired several contemporary philosophers within and beyond phenomenology. In the chapter we also discuss the relation between semiotics and phenomenology, including Peirce’s ideas and recent calls for a naturalized phenomenology. While modern phenomenology was from its inception programmatically presented as anti-naturalism, leading contemporary phenomenologists favour realignment between phenomenology and naturalism. With its roots in sign theory and biology, biosemiotics can contribute further to this endeavour, and be an important piece in the puzzle when realigning phenomenological studies of subjective experience and behaviour with natural science.  

KEYWORDS Phenomenology, lifeworld, biosemiotics, Umwelt theory, naturalized phenomenology  

REFERENCE 

Sharov A., Tønnessen M. (2021). Phenomenology. In: Semiotic Agency (Biosemiotics, vol 25). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89484-9_9

***

Umwelt theory for practitioners: Semiotic guidelines for application in a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology  

Morten Tønnessen, 

Professor of philosophy, Department of social studies, University of Stavanger, Norway  

Contribution to the panel “Biosemiotics, Umwelt, and the lifeworld”   

ABSTRACT  

The chapter on which this presentation is based (Tønnessen, forthcoming) outlines a scientific method for conducting qualitative studies of human and animal lifeworlds by introducing a semiotically informed descriptive phenomenology that goes beyond the human. Descriptive phenomenology denotes a scientific method for describing lived experience based on phenomenological philosophy. Despite the fact that classics such as Husserl and Heidegger acknowledged the existence of animal lifeworlds, descriptive phenomenology in its current forms is typically only applicable to the study of human lifeworlds. Using the semiotically framed Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll as foundation allows for the development of a novel version of descriptive phenomenology that is non-anthropocentric and pluralistic. A depiction of the theoretical basis for a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology is followed by a depiction of its methodological basis. The chapter concludes with a number of semiotic guidelines for practical application of Umwelt theory organized by relevant professions and settings of study. These include veterinarians and ethologists (in both wildlife and captive settings), zookeepers, anthropologists and social scientists. The guidelines are meant to facilitate studies of human-animal relations and interaction from an Umwelt perspective. This requires the use of interviews with experts and/or practitioners in combination with interaction with and participatory observation of animals.  

KEYWORDS Umwelt theory, applied Umwelt theory, descriptive phenomenology, animal phenomenology, human–animal phenomenology  

REFERENCE 

Tønnessen, forthcoming. Umwelt theory for practitioners: Semiotic guidelines for application in a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology. In Amir Biglari (ed), Open Semiotics. Paris: L’Harmattan.

#32,5

Today I have had an article writing day and finished my chapter "Umwelt theory for practitioners", with some 1.100 words written today.

Abstract for "Neurosemiotics across species" chapter

I have just composed this book chapter abstract.

***

Neurosemiotics across species

By Morten Tønnessen

ABSTRACT

Behavioral neuroscience arguably comes with two contrasting pitfalls, which we can associate with anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism respectively. In the first instance, we neglect or misunderstand traits of non-human neurobiology because we mistakenly believe that such traits are uniquely human. In the second instance, we mistakenly attribute neurobiological traits found in humans to non-humans. To avoid both these pitfalls, we need to be clear on the actual characteristics of neurobiology across species. This will shed light on questions such as: How different are humans from non-humans in the context of neurosemiotics? What do we have in common with some other animals, and what is uniquely human? In this chapter, I build mainly on the neurosemiotics implicit in the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) and contemporary interpretations thereof. Uexküll´s pioneering thinking on neurosemiotics has influenced classical ethology as well as contemporary biosemiotics, code biology and cognitive semiotics, and shares some perspectives with cognitive ethology and comparative psychology. His neurosemiotic constructs include Merkzeichen and Wirkzeichen, Wirkwelt and Merkwelt, Umwelt and Innenwelt. The treatment will include a discussion about objecthood in perception and different organisms´ capacity for relating to objects. A distinction between proper subjects (i.e., organisms capable of having coherent experience) and quasi-subjects (i.e., organisms that have some sort of experience which is, however, disorganized or scattered) will be made. I also investigate the nature of the neural code(s) from the standpoints of biosemiotics and code biology, and provide an Uexküllian perspective on neural codes by framing neural codes in terms of Umwelt theory. In conclusion, the chapter further includes a biosemiotic perspective on certain methodological issues in neurobiology.

Extensively cited in Jaroš & Pudil 2020

The article "Cognitive Systems of Human and Non-human Animals: At the Crossroads of Phenomenology, Ethology and Biosemiotics" by Filip Jaroš & Matěj Pudil (published in Biosemiotics) cites my work quite extensively.

Footnote 2:

Our contribution should not be understood as adhering to an Uexküllian puritanism. Influenced by an evolutionary-ontogenetic approach, we fully acknowledge the usefulness of the concept of umwelt transition (Tønnessen 2011) and recognize that a one-sided endorsment of umwelt theory can obscure many phenomena of interspecies communication (cf. Lestel 2011b).

P. 4:

In an editorial in this journal, Tønnessen et al. (2018) examine the relationship between phenomenology and biosemiotics and conclude that phenomenological investigation, which is traditionally focused on the experience of the human individual, can be enriched by biosemiotically oriented research on the experience of animals – only against this background will the specificity of human experience emerge.

P. 5:

But not only interspecific differences are worthy of attention. The human individuals also undergo transformations during their own ontogenesis, as reflected in the biosemiotic literature (Tønnessen 2014) and also in Merleau-Ponty´s own work (Merleau-Ponty 2002).

Footnote 4:

For a resolution between signs and signals and its connection with the phenomenality of animal umwelten see Tønnessen et al. (2018: 4).

P. 7:

Accordingly, Tønnessen (2014: 302) notes that language acquisition is connected with a certain loss of those non-verbal aspects of human experience and so “the mature human being’s umwelt consists for the most part only of those objects that can be named”. Once human language is acquired to this extent, it becomes a superior realm of meanings that often pushes out other, e.g. pictorial, representations of the world (cf. Portmann 1990: 113).

P. 7:

Language changes us, it gives us a fully subjective dimension by which we relate to the world because it penetrates our perception, changes it, but also stays flexible. In this sense, language becomes the way by which we live.6 Tønnessen (2014: 288) in this sense distinguishes three aspects of umwelt: the core umwelt, based on automated acts of perception and automated mental acts; mediated umwelt, based on wilful acts of perception and wilful mental acts; and conceptual umwelt, characteristic for higher animals, as an aspect of umwelt distinctive by its habitual acts of perception and habitual mental acts defined as “the learned matching of something with something else”. In the case of humans, this last aspect of umwelt is specifically connected with language use.

Footnote 6:

See Tønnessen (2014: 291): “In terms of umwelt, i.e. subjective experience, we gradually individuate and become first animal, then human, then eventually persons.”

P. 11:

Within the biosemiotic tradition, subjectivity is attributed to every creature that has an umwelt (Tønnessen 2014; Tønnessen et al. 2016).

P. 13:

According to a canonical understanding of umwelt (Tønnessen et al. 2016: definitions 3–5), the form of these meanings is predetermined by belonging to the particular species and is bound to its physiological properties and limitations.

References:

Tønnessen, M. (2011). Umwelt transition and Uexküllian phenomenology: An ecosemiotic analysis of Norwegian wolf management. Doctoral thesis, Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu, Estonia.
Tønnessen,M. (2014). The ontogeny of the embryonic, foetal and infant human umwelt. Sign Systems Studies, 42(2), 281–307. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2014.42.2-3.06.
Tønnessen, M. (2015). Uexküllian phenomenology. Chinese Semiotic Studies, 11(3), 347–369.
Tønnessen, M., et al. (2018). Phenomenology and biosemiotics. Biosemiotics, 11(3), 323–330. https://doi. org/10.1007/s12304-018-9345-8.
Tønnessen, M., Magnus, R., & Brentari, C. (2016). The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Umwelt. Biosemiotics 9(1): 129–149.

Writing day; 6.000 words written in February

Today I had an article writing day, with some 6 hours devoted to planning for my contributions to the book Semiotic Agency: Science beyond mechanism, which I co-write with Alexei Sharov, and literature search/work with the reference list for my companion chapter "Semiotics in ethology and zoology".

Total number of article writing days so far this Spring is 17,5. In February I had 8 writing days, resulting in ca. 6.000 words written (of which about 600 today).

Writing plans

I am tentatively agreeing to write a chapter on "Semiotics in ethology and zoology", for a companion to semiotics.

Ethology panel in Mexico City cancelled

The ethology panel I was to be part of at the 4th Minding Animals Conference has been cancelled due to lack of interest from other scholars.

"Wolf land" article referred to in NINA overview report

My 2010 article "Wolf land" is referred to in a recent report from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) which gives an overview of status for knowledge on management of large predators in Norway. The reference is made in attachment 1, which lists "Scientific publications".

References:

Linnell, John D.C. & Torkild Tveraa (eds) 2015. Kunnskapsstatus og kunnskapsbehov for forvaltning av rovvilt i Norge. NINA report no. 1195. Trondheim: NINA.

Tønnessen, Morten 2010. Wolf Land. Biosemiotics 3.3: 289–297 (online version, published April 23, 2010: DOI: 10.1007/s12304-010-9077-x).

Abstract: "Proto-language in wolves and dogs"

I have co-written an abstract, "Proto-language in wolves and dogs", with Paul Thibault, in connection with a prospective collection of chapters (upon invitation). 

Bekoff to contribute to Norwegian animal ethics conference; concept in English online

The program of the Norwegian animal ethics conference 2013, which will have the theme "Dyrs natur under press: Hvordan vi former ville dyr i vårt bilde" [Animals' nature under pressure: How we shape animals in our own image] and take place in Oslo August 22nd, is in progress. Among the news:

* Marc Bekoff will contribute with a video greeting

* Veterinarian Randi Oppermann Moe and sociologist Ketil Skogen will give lectures

Updates will be announced on the conference website.

Furthermore, an English language version of the thematic concept of this year's conference has been published online. But PS: The conference language is Norwegian.

Pics from the Blue Mountains I

One of the Three Sisters (Katoomba).

Say no more.

Philosopher Matthew Chrulew (left) and painter Roland Hemmert (right).

Hello there!

Blackheath.

See also my brief report from the Sydney workshop.

Brief report from the Sydney workshop

I am currently in Katoomba, the Blue Mountains, where I will spend a week writing, after having spendt two days in neighbouring Blackheath already.

The workshop The history, philosophy and future of ethology took place at the campus of Macquarie University in Sydney Feb. 19-21. My presentation was given Feb. 19 at approximately 2 pm, and I chaired a session Feb. 21 in the afternoon.

I have had the pleasure to meet and spend time with a number of interesting scholars, including the other international guests (Dominique Lestel, Jeffrey Bussolini, Gary Steiner, Brett Buchanan), the organizer Matthew Chrulew and Gisela Kaplan, to mention but one of the other speakers. Actually, the 15 or so talks were pretty much all good - which is not common at interdisciplinary conferences and similar events. I usually have to bring a book.

There were up to 30 people attending, speakers included.

In Sydney, Australia

At this prolonged moment I am in Sydney, Australia. I left Norway Tuesday 15th and flew here via London and Abu Dhabi (my first 'visit' to the Middle East - unfortunately I did not have the time to step outside the airport). 17.000-18.000 km later, on Thursday 17th, I was here (my first visit to Australia).

The workshop "The History, Philosophy and Future of Ethology", organized by Matthew Chrulew of Macquarie University - who I got to meet yesterday - starts tomorrow and lasts for three days. I will meet the other foreign guests for dinner in a couple of hours.

Sydney programme

In the draft programme of the forthcoming workshop "The History, Philosophy and Future of Ethology" (Sydney Feb. 19-21), my talk "Bad dog: An Uexküllian analysis of Norwegian wolf management" has been scheduled for Saturday Feb. 19th at 2-3 pm. Brett Buchanan, the author of Onto-Ethologies: The Animal Environments of Uexküll, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze, will moderate the session.

On Monday Feb. 21st I will moderate a session (1.20-2.40 pm) where Thom van Dooren and organizer of the Sydney workshop Matthew Chrulew will present papers.

Sydney workshop approaching

Some time back I received a 4-page Ethology workshop summary from organizer Matthew Chrulew. The workshop, “The History, Philosophy and Future of Ethology”, an International Collaborative Workshop, is to be arranged February 19-21. Abstracts are due January 25th. An edited volume is planned. "Bad dog: An Uexküllian analysis of Norwegian wolf management" is thus after all likelyhood set to materialize not only as a talk, but further in writing.

Excerpts of the summary:

The reflexive and critical reflection of the history and philosophy of ethology bears an obvious relationship to its object, the practice of the science of animal behaviour itself; and the latter relies on such historical and philosophical reflections for its own self-understanding and development. But as Buchanan (2008) and others have shown, Continental philosophy has its own debt to the early ethological work of Jakob von Uexküll (1957) and others that has yet to be fully understood (Deleuze & Guattari 1987, Merleau-Ponty 2003). While phenomenology has traditionally focussed solely on human experience, a critique of such anthropocentrism in favour of immanence and biological continuity opens pathways for distinctive empirical, qualitative descriptions of interspecies forms of life (Abram, 1996; Bussolini 2000; Lawlor 2006). Meanwhile, the field of biosemiotics or zoosemiotics, following the work of Thomas A. Sebeok (1972, 2000), Uexküll and others, has its own set of tools and questions, rarely considered by other science and humanities genres, with which to approach the questions of animal life (Tønnessen, 2010).

Our historical moment is one that combines, on the one hand, the breaking down of barriers between the human and the nonhuman, and on the other, the intensification of our anthropocentric use of animal bodies. It is in this context that what is called “the question of the animal” has become an important question in the humanities. Yet while an insistence on animal subjectivity is foundational for much of this discourse, there is a continuing poverty of truly interdisciplinary work that questions how such subjectivity is imagined and comprehended. This workshop will bring together scholars who work in and among disciplines such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology, ethology, neurobiology, science studies, literature, biblical studies, Egyptology, film and music. It will allow local researchers the opportunity to participate in a discussion with distinguished international visitors. It will provide a space for interdisciplinary discussion at the cutting edge of the history and philosophy of ethology, and related fields of animal philosophy and ethics. An edited volume arising from these conversations is planned.

Programme. The workshop will be held in the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University in Sydney. It will be held over three days, from Saturday-Monday 19th-21st February, 2011. The workshop is funded by the ISL-HCA programme, with additional funding provided by the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion. International speakers are Dominique Lestel (ENS, France), Brett Buchanan (Laurentian, Canada), Gary Steiner (Bucknell, USA), Jeffrey Bussolini (CUNY, USA), Morten Tønnessen (Tartu, Estonia). International guests will speak for 45 minutes, local participants for 25-30 minutes. There will be extended question periods as well as opportunities for group discussion. Please notify of attendance and forward final paper titles and 500 word abstracts by Tuesday 25th January.

As mentioned in the quoted text, the workshop is funded by (ISL-HCA), meaning the International Science Linkages: Humanities and Arts Programme of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. The ethology workshop was one of 13 international colloborative workshops to get funding in 2010.

Australia plans

The title of my talk at the international collaborative workshop on the history and philosophy of ethology, to take place in Sydney February 19-21, will be "Bad dog: An Uexküllian Analysis of Norwegian Wolf Management". 45 min.

I have arranged flight tickets - will be leaving Europe February 15th and return March 4th (in Australia February 17th - March 3rd). The workshop organizers provide me with accommodation in Sydney for February 17-22, the remaining 9 days I intend to spend in the Blue Mountains, working on completing my thesis.

Philosophy/history of ethology workshop materializing

The Sydney workshop on ethology that I was invited to not so long ago got funding, and will materialize. This will be my first visit to Australia (and the second continent I visit on the Southern hemisphere).

NAME: History and philosophy of ethology -- International
Collaborative Workshop

PLACE: Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

LIKELY TIME: February 22-4, 2011

Thanks to Juipi Chien (Taiwan) for making connections between people...

Invitation to Sydney workshop on ethology

I have just read an email by Matthew Chrulew, a scholar (and writer) based in Sydney and partaking in the Australian Ecological humanities network. He is in the process of organizing a workshop entitled 'The history and philosophy of ethology', and invites me to participate, given that an application for funding proves successful. I would very much like to see this materialise.