Google scholar: 1631 citations; i10-index of 47

According to my Google Scholar profile my research has to date attracted a total of 1.631 citations (+19 since May 28th). This includes 73 citations so far in 2026 (+9 since May 28th). My h-index remains 22 while my i10-index is now 47 (+1 since May 28th). My i10-index means that 47 of my texts have at least 10 citations each.

My latest articles/chapters to reach 10 citations are:

"Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" (2016)

"Outline of an Uexküllian bio-ontology" (2001) - my very first scientific article

#49,5

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 300 words added to the environmental semiotics chapter I am co-writing with Jonathan Beever. This was writing day #49,5 this Autumn (starting July 1st), with a total of 18 of the writing days devoted to article writing to date. 

Two of my articles cited in de Jesus 2018

My articles

Tønnessen, M. (2011). Semiotics of being and Uexküllian phenomenology. In: Phenomenology/Ontopoiesis retrieving geo-cosmic horizons of antiquity (pp. 327–340). Springer Netherlands.
Tønnessen, M. (2016). Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism. In: Meaning, mind and communication: Explorations in cognitive semiotics. Peter Lang Publishing Group. pp. 69-82

are cited in

de Jesus, Paulo 2018. Thinking through enactive agency: sense-making, bio-semiosis and the ontologies of organismic worlds. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. Published online March 2nd 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-018-9562-2.

Excerpts, p. 17:

BE [Biosemiotic Enactivism] endorses enactivism’s strong life-mind continuity but grounds it on Uexküll’s Umwelt theory and the bio-semiosis (sense-making/meaning-making) of living organisms (see also Meacham 2016).
   In so doing BE explicitly distances itself from enactivism’s reliance on Hans Jonas and suggests in its place, following Morten Tønnessen (2011), an "Uexküllian phenomenology". Which, "is loyal not to Uexküll thought in detail but to the essential finding that nature is constituted by the intricate relations of all living creatures, which are all subjects of the phenomenal world at large" (Tønnessen 2011, p. 331). These relations are in turn conceived as bio-semiotic processes involving, at its most foundational-level, iconic (similarity-based) or/and indexical (causal) and at its most
developed-level symbolic (conventional) signs.

Footnote 11:

Biosemiotics, somewhat like enactivism, is still a field in its developing stages constituted by a loose group of connected yet different approaches. For an overview of the distinct schools and their relation see Barbieri (2009). For an exploration and comparison between enactive and biosemiotic approaches to agency see Tønnessen (2016).

Reference for "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" chapter

My chapter "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" is appearing these days, in a book that is officially a 2016 publication.

Full reference:

Tønnessen, Morten, 2016. Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism. In Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson and Piotr Konderak (Eds.), Meaning, mind and communication: Explorations in cognitive semiotics. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 69–82.

Cognitive semiotics book to appear in January

I have been informed by the editors that Meaning, Mind and Communication: Explorations in Cognitive Semiotics, edited by Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson and Piotr Konderak, will appear on Peter Lang in January, with 2016 as official publication year. It is currently in production, and slightly delayed. I contribute with one of the chapters, on agency in biosemiotics and enactivism.

Book with "Agency in Biosemiotics and Enactivism" renamed

I have been informed that my book chapter "Agency in Biosemiotics and Enactivism" is print-ready, as are now all chapters for the book formerly work-titled "Establishing cognitive semiotics". The book now has a new title. Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten, forthcoming. Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism. In Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson and Piotr Konderak (Eds.), Meaning, Mind and Communication: Studies in Cognitive Semiotics (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang).

"Agency in Biosemiotics and Enactivism" revised second time

Today I finished the second round of revisions of my forthcoming book chapter "Agency in Biosemiotics and Enactivism".

Paper “Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism” presented at NASS IX

Yesterday I presented my paper “Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism” at NASS IX - at the second attempt, while carrying my sleeping boy in kenguru position - in the session “Cognitive Semiotics Meets Biosemiotics /Biosemiotics Meets Cognitive Semiotics”. Some 20 people were present.

"Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" revised

This night I finished revising my book chapter "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" (see previous posts), forthcoming in Establishing Cognitive Semiotics.

"Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" scheduled for presentation August 19th at NASS IX

My paper "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" has been scheduled for presentation Wednesday August 19th at 14.30-15.00 at the 9th conference of Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (Tartu, Estonia, 17-20 August 2015) - see preliminary program. My paper will be part of the session  "Cognitive semiotics meets biosemiotics / Biosemiotics meets cognitive semiotics", specifically the subsection "Umwelt and agency", which will be chaired by Göran Sonesson.

"Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" to be revised

I have been informed about the editorial decision of the editors of the book Establishing Cognitive Semiotics concerning my contribution "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" - major revisions. A revision is due in June.

Abstract for NASS IX: "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism"

I have just composed and submitted the abstract below to the organisers of the 9th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) (Tartu, August 17-20).

***

Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism

By Morten Tønnessen, University of Stavanger

Paper proposal submitted to the theme session “Cognitive semiotics meets biosemiotics / Biosemiotics meets cognitive semiotics”

ABSTRACT

While several fields has a pragmatic interest in the notion of agency qua causal, biosemiotics has an ontological interest in the occurrence of agency in the living realm at large. Although there is currently no consensus in the biosemiotic community on what constitutes a semiotic agent, i.e. an agent in the context of semiosis (the action of signs), most respondents to a recent survey agree that core attributes of an agent include goal-directedness, self-governed activity, processing of semiosis and choice of action, with these features being vital for the functioning of the living system in question. 

In this chapter I seek to compare the biosemiotic understanding(s) of agency with enactive understanding(s) of agency. Despite considerable overlapping in views and outlook, there are sharp differences in how agency is understood in biosemiotics and enactivism. For example, while biosemioticians typically acknowledge agency in all living systems, whether large or small, enactivists tend for the most part to refer to individual agency, and often with stricter qualifications than biosemiotics makes use of. Gallagher´s emphasis on some organisms´ “sense of agency” exemplifies enactivism´s tendency to focus on conscious animals, and to prioritise theorizing about self-awareness rather than awareness or experience in a broader sense.

Acknowledgements: This work has been carried out thanks to the support of the research project Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis (EEA Norway Grants/Norway Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 under project contract no EMP151). Parts of this text have previously been published in Biosemiotics (Tønnessen, Morten 2015. The Biosemiotic Glossary Project: Agent, agency. To appear in Biosemiotics 8(1); published online January 21st 2015 (doi: 10.1007/s12304-015-9229-0), with Appendix – Supplementary Material – available online).

Chapter "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" finished

Yesterday I finished my chapter "Agency in biosemiotics and enactivism" (ca. 5.500 words). It has been submitted to a book project with Jordan Zlatev, Göran Sonesson and Piotr Konderak as editors, entitled Establishing Cognitive Semiotics, to be published by Peter Lang.

Joining the DLG research cluster Language and Life

I have confirmed that I am joining the Distributed Language Group's new research cluster Language and Life, coordinated, as DLG itself, by Stephen Cowley.

Excerpts of initial description:

The DLG perspective suggests that, as part of action and perception – and especially as a mode of caring – language is central to both human lives and the world that we influence.
...
My first goal is to build a community who are interested in both the academic and practical implications of linking language with culture and the life sciences. I hope to link people from biosemiotics, ecological linguistics, enactivism, and other groups.
...
in 2012 or 2013 I hope that we can consolidate our concerns in some kind of academic meeting. In addition, I aim to construct a bibliography of materials, a set of links, and a discussion forum.