Ecosemiotics talk scheduled for presentation August 25th at 25th Gathering in Biosemiotics, Rotterdam

My paper «Ecological semiotics» has been scheduled for presentation on Monday, August 25th at 10.30-11.00 at the 25th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to be held at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, August 25-29th.

IACS5 plenary speech scheduled for Friday August 16th

My plenary speech at The Fifth Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics, with the theme “Crisis of meaning”, which is to be held at Lund University in Sweden August 15-17th, has according to a preliminary programme been scheduled for presentation Friday August 16th at 17.30-18.30.

See also:

Abstract for IACS5 (Lund, Sweden): "The crisis of mechanistic science seen through the lens of the nature crisis"

Conference talk on Umwelt theory and phenomenology scheduled for June 21st at 24th Gathering in Biosemiotics

I have been notified that my conference paper "Applied Umwelt theory in the context of descriptive phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation" has been scheduled for presentation on Friday 21st of June at 10:30, during the 24th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is to be held June 17-21st in Bloemfontein, South Africa (University of the free state) and online. I will attend the conference digitally.

This is the conference abstract I submitted:

Applied Umwelt theory in the context of descriptive phenomenology and phenomenological triangulation 

Author: Morten Tønnessen 

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

In earlier work, I have argued that a genuine ´Uexküllian phenomenology´ can be derived from the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll and that such a phenomenology is capable of accounting for the subjective experience of both humans and animals. With its foundation in contemporary biosemiotics, such a modern, empirically informed phenomenology is particularly relevant for the study of human-animal relations and interaction in societal and ecological settings. In a recent chapter (Tønnessen 2023) I have outlined a scientific method for conducting qualitative studies of human and animal lifeworlds by introducing a semiotically informed descriptive phenomenology. While descriptive phenomenology in its current forms is typically only applicable to the study of human lifeworlds (Giorgi 2009), a reiteration of descriptive phenomenology that draws on Umwelt theory can be designed to be non-anthropocentric and pluralistic. In this paper I elaborate on a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology and explain how it can be applied within the humanities and social sciences as well as in a natural science context. Furthermore, I will discuss how Umwelt theory can be made use of as part of a methodology of phenomenological triangulation, in which 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives are combined in studies of one and the same study object. This methodology draws on ideas developed in cognitive semiotics by Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson, and others (e.g. Zlatev 2012). Overall, this paper aims to contribute to integrating biosemiotics and phenomenology and demonstrating the relevance of Umwelt theory for phenomenology, and vice versa.  

REFERENCES 

Giorgi, Amedeo (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology. Duquesne University Press. 

Tønnessen, Morten (2023). Umwelt theory for practitioners: Semiotic guidelines for application in a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology. Pp. 303–314 in Open Semiotics (4 volumes, ed. Amir Biglari), volume 4: Life and its extensions. Paris: L’Harmattan. 

Zlatev, Jordan (2012). Cognitive Semiotics: An emerging field for the transdisciplinary study of meaning. The Public Journal of Semiotics IV(1) (2012): 2–24.

IAEP 2024 paper rescheduled for May 24th

My paper «Umwelt phenomenology, the human condition, and the nature crisis» has been rescheduled. To be held at the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, IAEP 2024, which is held online May 22-24th, my presentation is now scheduled for Friday May 24th at 9-10.30 a.m. EDT (which compares to 3-4.30 p.m. CEST). It is still a part of the session “Phenomenology, Language, and Hermeneutics” (moderated by Jonathan Beever). 

See also (now outdated):

Paper "Umwelt phenomenology, the human condition, and the nature crisis" scheduled for presentation online at IAEP 2024 May 22nd

My two contributions at The Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4) scheduled in the conference program

While I do not have funding to attend The Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4), “Transitions, transformations and transdisciplinarity: Histories beyond history”, to be held at University of Oulu, Finland August 19-23rd, physically, it turns out I can attend digitally. My two papers/presentations/participations have now been scheduled in the conference program. 

On Monday 19th of August, at 14:15-16:00, I will take part in the panel “Environmental biography as a methodological challenge” with my presentation "The study of past Umwelten".

On Friday 23rd of August I will take part in the roundtable “The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis” as a discussant, with my paper “Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century”.

For my abstracts for these two conference papers, see:

Two proposals for WCEH4 (Oulu, Finland, August 2024)

Talk at Henrik Steffens conference slightly rescheduled

There has been some adjustments to the program for the forthcoming conference "Henrik Steffens – The Prophet of the Anthropocene?" (Stavanger, September 8-9th) (see previous post about conference program). My talk "Reconstructing the nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene" has been rescheduled to 14.15-15.00 on Saturday September 9th (slight change).

Paper scheduled for online presentation October 4th at "(Un)Common Worlds III – Navigating and Inhabiting Biodiverse Anthropocenes"

My paper “A biosemiotic perspective on the environmental crisis” has been scheduled for online presentation on Wednesday, October 4th at 4.00-4.30 PM as part of the session “Worldlings, onto-epistemologies, and becomings”, chaired by Anna Vladimirova, at the conference "(Un)Common Worlds III – Navigating and Inhabiting Biodiverse Anthropocenes", which is to be held October 4-6th at University of Oulu (Finland) and online.

See: Conference programme

Programme for conference "Henrik Steffens – The Prophet of the Anthropocene?"

The programme for the Henrik Steffens 250 year anniversary conference "Henrik Steffens – The Prophet of the Anthropocene?" has been published online some time ago, both on the University of Stavanger webpage and the webpage of Stavanger municipality.

I am scheduled to speak Saturday September 9th at 2-2.30 p.m.

"Contemporary Umwelt Analysis" plenary talk scheduled for presentation on April 19th

My plenary talk for the conference “Contemporary Umwelt Analysis: Applications for Culture and Ecological Relations”, to be held April 18-19th at Estonian Naturalists’ Society in Tartu, Estonia (organized by Department of semiotics at University of Tartu), titled “A Comprehensive Framework for Studies of Changing Umwelten”, has been scheduled for presentation Wednesday April 19th at 11.00-12.00 local time.

The conference program is now available at the conference website.

Theme and time of 5th Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference

The theme of the 5th Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen), to be held at Litteraturhuset in Oslo November 23rd at 10.00-15.00, is "Ekstrem forvandling: Avle alt alltid" [Extreme transformation: Always breed everything?]. The program is now just about finalized.

To chair session at GiB16 in Prague

I have been scheduled to chair a session at the 16th gathering in biosemiotics, to be held in Prague July 4th to 8th, on Friday July 8th from 11.00 to 12.30 (three presentations), cf. abstract book with programme.

Program and abstract book for Code Biology 3 now online

Program and abstract book for the Third International Conference in Code Biology (Urbino, Italy 24-28 May, 2016) are now online.

My abstract with Paul Thibault, "Proto-language in wolves", is to be found on p. 27 in the abstract book.

Link to "Animals in the Anthropocene" conference program

Here´s the program for the conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human–animal relations in a changing semiosphere" (July 20th version).

See also:
Conference program composed

Conference program composed

Today I have finished composing the program of the conference Animals in the Anthropocene: Human–animal relations in a changing semiosphere (University of Stavanger, September 17-19) - with the assistance of Laura Kiiroja. The program will be distributed to conference participants later today.