Reference to semiotic causation/Steps to a semiotics of being in paper by Prakash Mondal

My 2010 article "Steps to a semiotics of being" (Biosemiotics 3.3: 375-392) is cited/mentioned in Prakash Mondal's Biosemiotics article "Does Computation Reveal Machine Cognition?". Reference:

Mondal, Prakash 2013. Does Computation Reveal Machine Cognition? Biosemiotics (published online September 1st 2013; DOI 10.1007/s12304-013-9179-3).

Excerpt (p. 8):

Semiotic causation, which consists in bringing about effects through interpretation (Hoffmeyer 2007), is also a part of human cognitive processes. In fact, Tønnessen (2010) thinks that semiotic causation, in addition to four Aristotelian causes: material, formal, effective and final causes, is necessary for all life processes.

Here's the paragraph in Steps that Mondal refers to (p. 378):

In the article published in English as “The new concept of Umwelt: A link between science and the humanities,” Jakob von Uexküll (2001: 114) addressed the existence of a perceptually oriented pre-modern science: “There have been times when the goal of scientific endeavor was to study the perceptual side of things. [...] Kepler was looking for a design—Newton was looking for a cause for the same phenomenon.” Here, a ‘cause’ is taken to represent only one of Aristotle’s four categories (only the efficient cause, related to motion), which is typical of modern understanding. Perhaps we need to develop a concept of semiotic causation—perhaps such a notion is what we biosemioticians have been, and are still searching for.

 Mondal is based at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi.

Minding Animals Norway launches poster and brochures

Minding Animals Norway has last month produced and started distributing a 4-page brochure (in two versions with different cover photos) and an A3 poster - see below. While the poster headline ("Oh well, whatever, nevermind?") is Nirvana-inspired, the brochures feature a quote by Mikal Rode (1908-1993) - here in English translation:

When man denies his kinship with animals, it tends to be in the form of barking, hissing or growling.

Johnny Kreutz has designed both the poster and the brochures on a voluntary basis. Photos are by me.

 

Academic events: Lists updated

I've updated, in the right sidebar, the "Upcoming academic events" list (now reduced to 8 entries) and the "Past events (2012-)" list (now as many as 20 entries). Both lists include only academic events that I am somehow involved in.

"Past events (-2011)" lists a further 25 events, thus bringing the total of academic events up to 53 as of now.

Updated profile at Academia.edu

I've updated my profile at Academia.edu with some recent (and not so recent) CV-material. You can follow me there to see some of my papers, upcoming talks etc.

See also my "Brief Academic CV" in the sidebar to the right.

Lund guest lecture announced online

My upcoming guest lecture in Lund, Sweden, has been announced on the webpage of Lund University's Centre for Cognitive Semiotics, in their overview of this autumn's research seminar:

24/10 - Morten Tønnessen (University of Stavanger) - The ontogeny of the embryonic, fetal and infant human Umwelt

See also:

Guest lecture at Centre for Cognitive Semitics, Lund, scheduled for October 24th (June 2013)

Research project application on "Animals in changing environments" successful

Yesterday I was informed by my collaborator Timo Maran, based in Tartu, that our joint application for support to the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (2013-2016), submitted in March, has proven to be successful. The project will be funded with a total of 192.552 Euro (under the EEA Norway Grants mechanism), which is to be divided quite equally by the Estonian research group and the Norwegian one, which will be headed by me. The Norwegian research group will be based at the University of Stavanger.

Formally the research project will be initiated immediately, since it begins September 2013.

See also:

Further info on Estonian-Norwegian research project application (April 2013)

Contribution to Estonian-Norwegian research project application (March 2013)