Abstract for "Contemporary Umwelt Analysis" conference: “A comprehensive framework for studies of changing Umwelten”

I have composed an abstract for my plenary speech at the conference “Contemporary Umwelt Analysis: Applications for Culture and Ecological Relations” (to be held April 18-19th in Tartu, Estonia). 

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Title: “A comprehensive framework for studies of changing Umwelten”  

By Morten Tønnessen   

Using Jakob von Uexküll´s classical Umwelt theory and updated knowledge on how human agency works as a driver of environmental change as starting points, I will present a comprehensive framework for studies of changing human and animal Umwelten. The framework indicates how past Umwelten, contemporary Umwelten, and future Umwelten can be studied by drawing on Umwelt theory accompanied by other relevant fields of study. The framework is comprehensive not only in that it allows for studies of different Umwelt temporalities, and different “layers” of the Umwelt (core – mediated – conceptual), but also by being applicable at different levels of biological organization, and by showing how changes in the Umwelt (outer subjective world) are correlated with changes in the Innenwelt (inner subjective world) and the physical environment. By seeing changes in the Umwelt, the Innenwelt, and the physical environment in context, we can achieve a better understanding of the interplay between semiotic causation and efficient causation in socio-ecological and socio-cultural contexts, and of how human agency can cause environmental problems – and solutions. In the setting of culture, socio-cultural transformations are particularly pertinent. In light of the framework presented here, these can be understood as involving collective Innenwelt transitions that in turn affect how we perceive our Umwelt. As part of my presentation, I will outline how Umwelt theory can serve as the basis of a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology suitable for studies of animal Umwelten and human–animal relations. I will further share some tentative ideas about how Umwelt theory can play a role in phenomenological triangulation, in which 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives are combined (drawing on methodology developed by Jordan Zlatev).   

Bionote: Morten Tønnessen (born 1976) is a Professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, Norway. He has worked with Jakob von Uexküll´s Umwelt theory since his master degree in philosophy (University of Oslo, 2002) and ph.d. thesis in philosophy and semiotics (University of Tartu, 2011).

Abstract for 20th gathering in Biosemiotics (Olomouc): "Introducing a Three-Dimensional Interactive Semiotic Model of Environmental Change"

I have just submitted my paper abstract for the 20th gathering in biosemiotics, to be held in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, this July.

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"Introducing a Three-Dimensional Interactive Semiotic Model of Environmental Change"

In this paper I present a three-dimensional interactive semiotic model of environmental change which incorporates some elements from my previous work and introduces new, related elements. The paper draws directly on work from my recently published article “What can be known about future Umwelten?” (Tønnessen 2019).  

This model is interactive because it demonstrates the constant interplay between different forms of causation and signals. It is three-dimensional because it takes three dimensions of living nature into consideration (see Table 1 below; taken from Tønnessen 2019: 419), namely the Innenwelt, the Umwelt and the Umgebung of a creature endowed with an Umwelt (typically an animal, a human being or a microorganism) (von Uexküll 1921). By applying a subjective perspective focused on the inner world (Innenwelt) and outer world (Umwelt) of animals and humans, and the subjective worlds´ relation to relevant aspects of the physical environment (Umgebung), the model builds directly on von Uexküll´s Umwelt theory.

The organism relates to its physical environment in two fundamentally different ways, namely by way of signification and by way of efficient causation, and it is thus involved in both semiotic and physio-chemical processes, with the former being endosemiotic in the Innenwelt and exosemiotic in the Umwelt.

The complex interplay between the three dimensions of living nature is illustrated in Figure 3 below (taken from Tønnessen 2019: 420). The interplay between the various dimensions involve environmental signals (originating from the Umgebung) which triggers Umwelt signals (originating from the Umwelt) which triggers Innenwelt signals (originating from the Innenwelt) which in turn triggers action and thus semiotic causation, or in other words “the bringing about of changes [in the Umgebung] under the guidance of interpretation” (Hoffmeyer 2008: 149).     

The change from one interplay cycle to another can be understood as an Umwelt transition, and seen in context, several Umwelt transitions can be understood as constituting an Umwelt trajectory. Change from one interplay cycle to another also constitutes an Innenwelt transition, and seen in context, several Innenwelt transitions constitute an Innenwelt trajectory: i.e., the course through time taken by the Innenwelt of a creature as defined by its changing relation to itself and its own body.

As we see in this complex, dynamic model of environmental change, changes in, e.g., identity, experience, and the physical environment are interrelated, and change in one dimension can be triggered by changes in the other two dimensions. While the physical environment is constantly affected by living creatures (via semiotic causation), it also changes irrespective of the actions of Umwelt creatures—via efficient causation. This in turn affects environmental signals that again, in ever new cycles, trigger new Umwelt signals, which trigger new Innenwelt signals, which trigger new actions and thus new forms of semiotic causation, and so on.   

References 

Hoffmeyer, Jesper 2008. Semiotic Scaffolding of living systems. In Marcello Barbieri (ed.), Introduction to Biosemiotics: The New Biological Synthesis (Dordrecht: Springer), 149–166.  

Tønnessen, Morten 2019. What can be known about future Umwelten? The American Journal of Semiotics 35(3-4): 401–429. DOI: 10.5840/ajs202012359 

von Uexküll, Jakob 1921. Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tiere (2nd edition). Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer.