Two abstracts reviewed for world congress in semiotics

I have reviewed two abstracts submitted to the organizers of the 16th world congress of semiotics, to be held in Warsaw, Poland, in early September, in my capacity as a member of the congress´ scientific committee.

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

I have just submitted two proposals for the Fourth World Congress of Environmental History, to be held August 19-23rd in Oulu, Finland. 

For the panel "Animal Entanglements: new futures in multi-species pasts", I have proposed the abstract "The study of past Umwelten" based on my article by the same name.

Short abstract: I detail how past Umwelten can be studied by applying Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory and informed by contemporary science, and outline some basic assumptions in studies of past, current and future Umwelten. I also consider methodological issues related to the study of past Umwelten in particular.

Long abstract:

This presentation is based on a published article, "The study of past Umwelten" (Discipline Filosophische XXXIII(1), 2023, special issue “Jakob Von Uexküll. Biological Theory, Subjectivity And Environment”, ed. Vallori Rasini, pp. 227–247). In the article I detail how past Umwelten can be studied by applying Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory and informed by contemporary science. I argue that the methodological challenges raised by the lack of present organisms available for real-time observations and whole-body physiological studies can be partly overcome by making qualified assumptions drawn from relevant knowledge and reconstructing likely Umwelt relations. As groundwork for such studies, I outline some basic assumptions in studies of past, current and future Umwelten, consider methodological issues related to the study of past Umwelten in particular, and present a few empirical assumptions that are informative with regard to the study of past Umwelten in different historical periods. I also discuss the relevance of such studies for current conservation work, specifically contemporary discussions about de-extinction, and for economics conceived of as a branch of ecology in the fashion of ecological economics.

For the roundtable "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis", I have proposed the abstract "Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century" based on my article by the same name.

Short abstract: Two great challenges face humanity in the 21st century: solving an escalating environmental crisis, while also safeguarding and further improving human living conditions. I present an ecosemiotic framework for the study of societal transformations, enveloping socio-ecological developments.

Long abstract:

My contribution will be based on my published article "Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century" (see https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/SSS.2021.49.1-2.02). Here I present a ecosemiotic perspective on socio-ecological developments historically and with a view to the future. Two great challenges face humanity in the 21st century: solving an escalating environmental crisis, while also safeguarding and further improving human living conditions. An ecosemiotic framework for the study of societal transformations is presented and political and other normative aspects of what I call transformative semiotics are discussed. This envelops socio-cultural and socio-ecological developments framed in terms of umwelt theory and Deep Ecology. In the long run, developments in human ecology as reflected in our changing relations to non-humans are expressed in the umwelt trajectory of humankind. The question of how the environmental crisis can best be solved is therefore tantamount to the question about what direction the human umwelt trajectory should take in this century. I outline different plausible umwelt scenarios for human ecology in the 21st century, focused on business-as-usual, ecomodernist and Deep Ecology scenarios. In a concluding discussion on technology and sustainability, the scenario development eventually includes a distinction between flexible and inflexible development paths.

Member of the Scientific committee of the 16th World Congress of Semiotics

I have agreed to be a member of the Scientific committee of the 16th World Congress of Semiotics, which will have the theme “Signs and Realities” and be held in Warsaw, Poland September 2-6th 2024.

Two papers presented at 15th World Congress of Semiotics in Thessaloniki, Greece

Today, at the "15th World Congress of Semiotics - Semiotics in the lifeworld", held in Thessaloniki, Greece (August 30th to September 3rd), I presented two papers, "Umwelt theory for practitioners - semiotic guidelines for a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology", in the session "Biosemiotics, Umwelt, and the lifeworld", with some 25 people attending, and "Semiotics of ethology and zoology", in the session "Semiotics in the diciplines", with some 50 people attending.

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.

NASS flag raised at UNA in Buenes Aires

Here in Buenes Aires I have, with the help of Alin Olteanu, raised the flag of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) in the backyard of Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), one of two venues for the ongoing 14th world congress of semiotics. NASS is associated with the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) as a regional organization.

Buenes Aires talk scheduled for 13th of September

My paper "Umwelt futurology - What can be known about future Umwelten?" has been scheduled for presentation at the 14th World Congress of Semiotics (Buenes Aires, Argentina September 9-13th) on Friday 13th of September at 11.45-12.15, cf. conference programme. Session code is V5VI10.45; the session takes place in Aula 5 of Depto. Artes Visuales UNA (National University of Arts) at Las Heras.

Dates of 14th world congress of semiotics announced

The 14th world congress of semiotics, organized by the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), will be held in Buenes Aires, Argentina, on September 9-13th 2019. "Trajectories" are mentioned as a thematic keyword for the congress - see congress homepage.

13th world congress of semiotics to be held in Kaunas, Lithuania, 26-30 June 2017

The 13th World Congress of Semiotics will take place in Kaunas, Lithuania, on June 26-30th 2017, cf. the congress website. The abstract deadline is November 30th 2016, cf. Call For Papers.

Quite extraordinarily, arguing that it is the most inclusive diet plus referring to a moral argument, an all-vegan diet has been chosen for the congress, cf. FAQ.

The world congress´ convenor is zoosemiotician Dario Martinelli.

13th World Congress of Semiotics to be held in Kaunas, Lithuania

in a recent communication from the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), “Update on Bureau decisions and various issues arising for the Association in 2015", it is announced that the next World Congress of Semiotics (the 13th World Congress of Semiotics) will take place in Kaunas, Lithuania (in 2017). The 2019 world congress (the 14th World Congress of Semiotics) will likely be held in Argentina.

Proceedings chapter: "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf" - reference; errata

A brief article of mine, "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf", based on a conference presentation in 2009, has been published online (and on a CD) - in 2012, it appears. Abstract is available online, as is the full PDF.

Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2012. The changing imagery of the big bad wolf. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS) (Universidade da Coruña (Spain)), ISBN: 978-84-9749-522-6, pp. 1543–1548. 

Errata:

1. "Morten Tønnessen, University of Tartu, Moscow (Russia)": Not sure where this came from. Tartu, where I took my PhD, is in Estonia.

2. “Rendalen happens to be [Southern!] Norway’s biggest municipality, measured by land area."

Biosemiotic ethics session scheduled for September 19th

The organisers of the 12th World Congress of Semiotics (Sofia, Bulgaria September 16-20 2014) have released a preliminary programme. My session "Biosemiotic ethics" has been scheduled for Friday September 19th, and merged with "New trends in bio/eco/zoosemiotics", chaired by Timo Maran and Kalevi Kull.

Deadline for abstract submission - directly to chairpersons - is June 30th.

Biosemiotic ethics session placed in Theoretical semiotics; Semiotics in the interdisciplinary context

The session "Biosemiotic ethics", which I am organising at the upcoming World congress of semiotics (Sofia, Bulgaria, September 16-20), has by now been placed within two program categories, namely "Theoretical semiotics" as well as "Semiotics in the interdisciplinary context". See also the program in terms of all the current prospective sessions. Prospective contributors to the Biosemiotic ethics session can send an abstract straight to me (for instructions, see the session abstract).

See also:

Session at12th world congress of semiotics: "Biosemiotic ethics"

World congress program re-presented online

The preliminary program (in-process) for the 12th World Congress of Semiotics, which will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 16-20 September 2014, has been reorganised online. Earlier on all proposed sessions were listed on one and the same page, but now each proposal with an abstract has its own subpage - including my proposed session, "Biosemiotic ethics". 

See also:

The process towards the 12th world congress of semiotics

Session at 12th world congress of semiotics: "Biosemiotic ethics"

Session at 12th world congress of semiotics: "Biosemiotic ethics"

A week ago or so I composed an abstract for what will be either a roundtable or a study session at the forthcoming 12th world congress of semiotics, which will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria September 16-20th 2014. Individual abstracts can be sent straight to me - see address below. This session abstract has been posted on the webpage of the world congress, in the Biosemiosis blog, and on my Academia.edu page.

Biosemiotic ethics

Morten Tønnessen, University of Stavanger, Norway (mortentoennessen@gmail.com) 

A dozen to 20 years ago, two of the most central biosemioticians, first Jesper Hoffmeyer and then Kalevi Kull, addressed connections between biosemiotics and ethics. The last ten years a new generation of scholars have started working out a biosemiotic ethics. The foundational idea is that if all living systems are semiotic, then biosemiosis can serve as basis for justifying attribution of moral status to human and non-human individuals and to various ecological entities. Most of the scholars involved in this endeavor have taken Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory as their starting point. Recent relevant publications include a translation of Uexküll’s 1917 article “Darwin and the English Morality”, with a framing essay entitled ““Darwin und die englische Moral”: The Moral Consequences of Uexküll’s Umwelt Theory”. 

Relevant questions for discussion include but are not limited to the following: In what ways does a biosemiotic ethics potentially take us beyond sentience-centered approaches? Does biosemiotic ethics represent a new form of consequentialism, or should it be placed within some other tradition? What ramifications do different views on the semiotic threshold have within the context of normative ethics? Is there (something akin to) normativity in the very constitution of the Umwelt? Does the semiosphere at large (qua biosphere) have intrinsic value? And what, in terms of biosemiosis, is the origin of value?

No trip to world congress of semiotics in China

Due to fortunate circumstances - my wife's pregnancy - I will not be able to attend this autumn's world congress in semiotics (the 11th such world congress), which is to be arranged in Nanjing, China, October 5-9. I had been looking forward to visit China for the first time, but now it will have to wait until another chance materializes.

World congress of semiotics - Nanjing, China

The 11th world congress of semiotics will take place in Nanjing, China, October 5-9th, 2012, and has the general - and ambitious - theme Global semiotics: A bridge linking different civilizations. A conventional call for papers will follow later on, but a first call was made already around New Year.

Please send to us in your earlier convenience proposals or abstracts about any semiotic topic concerning nature, society and culture, especially with respect to the following fields:

1. General theory and philosophy;
2. Linguistics and logic;
3. Literature and arts;
4. History, sociology and anthropology;
5. Theories of film and video and media;
6. Cognitive and biosemiotic studies.

In the preliminary call for papers, it is stated that:

The Nanjing 11th World Congress of Semiotics will be the first IASS forum in history to be held outside Europe or the Americas. Substantially and symbolically it will provide semiotic scholars from all over the world with a suitable dialogic context for exploring the new orientation of global semiotics. In conjunction with the 11th IASS Congress, whose program will basically follow the rules and procedures established in the past IASS congresses, there will be also a parallel conference in Nanjing, the First China Semiotics Forum, which will provide additional opportunities for comparative-semiotic communication.

Proceedings of the world congress in semiotics 2007

At long last I have received the proceedings of the 9th congress of the IASS/AIS - Helsinki-Imatra, 11-17 June, 2007, "Communication: Understanding/Misunderstanding", edited by Eero Tarasti (associated editors: Paul Forsell and Richard Littlefield). And quite a work it is, in 3 volumes (Acta Semiotica Fennica XXXIV, International Semiotics Institute, Imatra/Semiotic Society of Finland, Helsinki 2009).

My text "Where I end and you begin: The threshold of the self and the intrinsic value of the phenomenal world" appears pp. 1798-1803 (vol. III). Here, for the first time in Earth history (in print), I offer "a critique of a critique", namely of semioethics: "While I agree with several of the foundational statements of a semioethics proper, i have some critical remarks as to its present manifestation." I have now been engaged with semioethics for 2 years plus, not least through this spring's first "semioethics interviews" with John Deely, the first of which will sooner-than-ever be published. The article also contains seeds to what I now call "semiotic economy".

In the article I refer to:
David Agler
Gregory Bateson
Donald Favareau
Arne Næss
Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio
David Rothenberg
and myself ("Umwelt ethics")

The name of my article appears in the Contents (vol. I, p. xx). I ("Tonnesen") is further referred to in the Thematic index (vol. III) under the keywords "biosemiotics" (p. 1971) - but not under "ethics", nor "politics", nor "semioethics".

The abstract book of the 2009 world congress in semiotics

... is to be found here.

My contribution (p. 153) ends abruptly, with a word missing.

THE CHANGING IMAGERY OF THE BIG BAD WOLF

Autores/Autors: Morten Tønnessen (UNIVERSITY OF TARTU)

The current work is part of the author’s ecosemiotic analysis of Norwegian/Scandinavian wolf management in the period 1855-2010. In Norway, as in several other countries, wolf management is controversial. For some on the countryside it has come to symbolize the ignorant hostility (and imperialistic tendencies) of the urban elites. There is a wide gap between perceptions on the conservation side and in the antagonistic camp, and the proper role of folklore – which is considered by wolf ecologists as unscientific – has never been agreed upon. Field observations confirm that the political and cultural strife has little basis in actual wolf ecology – sheep, for instance, which play a marginal role in Scandinavian wolf diet, are currently major players in popular imagery (and, ironically, management policies) only. As symbols have grown and developed, cultural representations of wolves appear, at least in part, to have decoupled from ecological reality. In what ways have our conceptions of wolves changed from the extermination campaigns of the 19th century to the conservation efforts of our generation? To what extent have wolves, in modern times as well as earlier, symbolized human traits, religious ideas etc., and to what extent have they represented actual phenomena of nature? By offering a series of examples of animal representations involving wolves – in fiction and popular culture, in myths and in legends – I will inquire into these questions, aiming at approving our understanding of how human cultures has co-evolved not only with wolves, but further with a rich human imagery of these creatures, the infamous ancestors of man’s best

FRIEND.

Where are the Estonians?

I am here at the First World Congress of Environmental History as the only Estonian representative (as a Norwegian Ph.D. Student at Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu). This March I was in Copenhagen at an international climate conference, with around 1,500 participants - as the only Estonian representative. Where are the Estonians?

Here at the environmental history congress there are maybe 550 participants, judging by the list of participants. Though scholars from Europe and the US dominate (along with participants from Canada, Australia, New Zealand), there are some representation of other regions of the world as well, South America and Asia (China, Japan, India, Taiwan, Nepal ...) included. As for Africa, there's 9 participants (15 % of world population, 1-2 % of world congress participants) - in addition to South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Lesotho are represented (Lesotho 2, Estonia 1).

Norway, with its 7 representatives - me not included - almost compares to Africa in participation. That's not surprising, however, given that Norway is a neighboring country. Then again, so is practically Estonia. And yet, I am the only one here - nor are there any participants from Latvia or Lithuania; making me the sole representative from the Baltic states.