[morten tønnessen] utopian realism 2009
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UTOPIAN REALISMU T O P I S M . * * * I N T H E L O N G R U N , N O T H I N G L E S S I S R E A L I S T I C . * * *
W E L C O M E T O T H E E N G L I S H L A N G U A G E B L O G O F M O R T E N T N N E S S E N ,
P H D S T U D E N T A T D E P A R T M E N T O F S E M I O T I C S , U N I V E R S I T Y O F T A R T U .
* * * J O I N M E I N D E V E L O P I N G A T R U E S E M I O T I C S O F B E I N G !
B L O G A R C H I V E
2009 (102)
December (6)o Festschrift contribution submittedo Play, love etc. - UiA Philosophy Forum in preparat...o Work title: "I, wolf"o Invitation to contribute to book by Nova Publisher...o Expanding horizons: Interdisciplinary integrationo Lotman piece to be co-written by Dinda L. Gorle
November (9)o Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology...o Contribution on Lotman to Norwegian-Estonian Fests...o New colleagueso Titles - books I would like to have written (or re...o Course work on Uexkll - meetings at UiA - the phi...o Committee for UiA Philosophy Forumo Philosophy in Stavanger (siddisfilosofi)o Philosophy in Kristiansando "An ageing giant" - Arne Nss in memory
October (11)o The wolf as scapegoato Co-editing of special issue on biosemioticso First semioethics interview published + "Meditatio...o Proceedings of the world congress in semiotics 200...o Poster presentation presentationo Proceedingso Animal play article to appear in Decembero Mapping human impacto Poster presentation on the notion of ecological fo...o Chronicles in Norwegian media - wolf politicso New wolf essay
September (7)o Annotated bibliography, 3rd quartero "Outline of an Uexkllian bio-ontology" referred t...
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o On site in A Corua, Spaino The abstract book of the 2009 world congress in se...o Reflection piece in Hortus Semioticuso My first blurbo Research assistant (UiA) - multimodality
August (7)o Presentation in T seminar on the methodology of t...o New timetable for "Semiotics of Perception"o University teachero Report from China to appear in Norwegian mediao Where are the Estonians?o Q & A with Paul Crutzeno Copenhagen (WCEH)
July (6)o Existential universalso Brian Goodwin (1931-2009)o The Global Specieso Lecturer at University of Agdero Brief report from Gathering in Biosemiotics 9, Pra...o Climate change and the growth paradigm
June (11)o Defining biological meaningo Tolerant Tartuo Climate synthesis reporto 10th World Congress of Semiotics - Big Bad Wolf ac...o Academic news in brief III: Attested, revised, and...o Poster presentation in Tallinn in Octobero Proceedings from World Congress, Helsinki/Imatrao First ISI Web of Science publicationo First semioethics interviewo My question to Umberto Eco on science and fictiono Most viewed at Scribd
May (6)o Wolves, traffic lights and cultural mixo Exam seasono Biosemiotics abstract book - contrapunctualityo Book, book chaptero Umwelt ethics, deep ecology and Spinozao Academic news in brief II
o April (12) Abstract to X Congreso mundial de semitica Reminiscences on Arne Nss World Congress New biosemiotic research project in spe Food vs. Nature Climate survey in The Guardian Participation in research group Three texts
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Umwelt Transitions: Uexkll and Environmental Chan... Rescheduling of wolf presentation Update on Abram/Estonian media Abstraction, cruelty and other aspects of animal p...
March (10)o Academic news in briefo Petition to include ethical expertise in the IPCCo My updated CVo New blog - The Schopenhauer Experienceo Norwegian teachero Page numberso Climate publication - IOP Conference Serieso My poster for the congress Climate Change: Global ...o Poster programme, Copenhageno Food vs. Nature
February (12)o Talk at Gatherings in Biosemiotics, Pragueo Global Voices: Estonia?o Homepage for zoosemiotics projecto The nature view held by environmentalistso Academic journals - open access publishingo Web stats Utopian Realismo SemioPhenomenon web statso David Abram's public lecture onlineo Contrapuntuality - Gatherings in biosemiotics 2009...o Estonian mediao Most viewed at Scribd ... and web statso My article "Umwelt Transitions: Uexkll and Enviro...
o January (5) Now I have seen wolves International participation at workshops Arne Nss First wolf article - Umwelt mapping New research project in zoosemiotics
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SUNDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2009
Festschrift contribution submitted
The festschrift contribution of me and Dinda Gorlee, now entitled "Da Lotman og semiotikkenkom til Norge" (When Lotman and semiotics came to Norway), has been finished andsubmitted to the editors.
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 05:37 0 comments
Labels: Estonia, Festschrift, Lotman, Norway, Sebeok
THURSDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2009
Play, love etc. - UiA Philosophy Forum in preparation
I have previously mentioned the UiA Philosophy Forum (Filosofisk Forum) - see here, and here.
Today the committee of the forum gathered for the second time. We have made a draft ofthe spring programme, which looks more or less like this:
1) Tuesday, January 19th (16-18)
Morten Tnnessen: "Lek som sivilisasjonens opphav" (Play as the origin of civilization),followed by discussion
2) Tuesday, February 16th (16-18)
To filosofiske samtaler (Two philosophical dialogues)
3) Tuesday, March 16th (18-20)
Filosofisk samtale om tro (Philosophical dialogue on faith), led by Hvard Lkke
4) Tuesday, April 13th (16-18)
Hvard Lkke: Kjrlighet som moralsk flelse (Love as a moral emotion)
5) Tuesday, May 25th (18-20)
Public lecture with invited lecturer, in town. Name and title T.B.A.
In addition, there will be a course session in "philosophical dialogue" (filosofisk samtale) - in
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preparation of the February dialogue and the public event in March - February 2nd.
While events 1, 2 and 4 are "internal" (university area) events - though open to all - the 3rdand 5th event will take place outside of campus, and aim at engaging a wider audience, ineach their way (strictly speaking, this may apply to event 3 more than to event 5, which will
nevertheless be made available for a general audience). The methodology for the dialogicevents has in the Norwegian context been further developed by amongst others yvindOlsholt.
Besides talking at event 1, I will coordinate contacts for event 3, where we hope to gatherindividuals from different faiths etc. - protestants, catholics, muslims, agnostics and atheists- for a common philosophical dialogue.
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 07:33 0 comments
Labels: animal play, belief, civilization, dialogue, emotion, faith, feeling, love, religion
THURSDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2009
Work title: "I, wolf"
The work title for my article-in-progress for the forthcoming anthology Environment,Embodiment and History, edited by Johannes Servan and Ane Faugstad Aar, is:
I, Wolf:The Ecology of Experience
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 07:34 0 comments
Labels: Anthology, embodiment, environment, phenomenology, Uexkllian phenomenology,wolf, wolf ecology, wolf imagery, wolf politics
MONDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2009
Invitation to contribute to book by Nova Publishers
I have received an email from Nova Science Publishers (signed by editor-in-chief FrankColumbus) in which I am invited to contribute to a book entitled "Semiotics: Theory andapplications". They previously published 2 issues of "Journal of Biosemiotics".
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 00:27 0 comments
Labels: applied semiotics, Nova Science Publishers, semiotics, theory
FRIDAY, 4 DECEMBER 2009
Expanding horizons: Interdisciplinary integration
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Today, at 2-4, I presented "Expanding horizons: Interdisciplinary integration", previouslyentitled "Methodological challenges in analyzing wolf ecology and wolf management within asemiotic-phenomenological framework" (a 30 min talk, accompanying Timo Maran's"Zoosemiotics: Disciplinary identity and methodological perspectives" (a good overview, withhistorical perspective)). The occasion was a seminar called "Methodology of the humanities",at University of Tartu (led by Peeter Torop).
Above: Sketch of a global ontological map (humankind in the center).
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 11:46 0 commentsLabels: interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary, Ontological map, Ontological niche, semiotics,Tartu semiotics, Timo Maran, University of Tartu, zoosemiotics
Lotman piece to be co-written by Dinda L. Gorle
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I have agreed with Dinda L. Gorle (the Netherlands) that we will cowrite my (now our)aforementioned 2 pp contribution to a Norwegian-Estonian Festschrift, due for next spring.She was a central figure in Norwegian semiotics in the mid-1980s - the only time (so far)semiotics has flourished much in Norway.
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 11:27 0 commentsLabels: Bergen 1986, Dinda L. Gorle, Estonia, Festschrift, Lotman, Norway
MONDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2009
Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology, 2010
I have submitted the following...
Contribution to the 8th annual conference ofTHE NORDIC SOCIETY FOR PHENOMENOLOGY
(Nordisk Selskab for Fnomenologi)under the general theme
/NEW ORIENTATIONS: IN PHENOMENOLOGY
to be arranged at Sdertrn University Collegein Stockholm, April 22-24, 2010
/
Individual presentation
by Morten Tnnessen
/
Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, University of TartuVindmllegangen 1, 4631 Kristiansand, NORWAY
Kuu 39-64, 50 104 Tartu, ESTONIAAcademic homepage: http://utopianrealism.blogspot.com/
/
Suggested titleSemiotics of Being and Uexkllian Phenomenology
/
German-Baltic biologist Jakob von Uexkll (1864-1944) did not regard himself as aphenomenologist. Neither did he conceive of himself as a semiotician. Nevertheless, hisUmwelt terminology has of late been utilized and further developed within the framework of
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semiotics and various other disciplines - and, as I will argue, essential points in his work canfruitfully be taken to represent a distinctive Uexkllian phenomenology, characterized notleast by an assumption of the (in the realm of life) universal existence of a genuine firstperson perspective, i.e., of experienced worlds.
In the course of the presentation, I will briefly relate Uexkllian phenomenology toa) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804),
b) the eco-existentialism of Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899-1990)
c) eco-phenomenology (including David Abram and Ted Toadvine),
d) and semiotics of nature (biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, zoosemiotics)
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 08:40 0 comments
Labels: eco-existentialism, existence, experience, experienced world, phenomenal world,phenomenology, semiotics, semiotics of being, Uexkll, Uexkllian phenomenology, Zapffe
FRIDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2009
Contribution on Lotman to Norwegian-Estonian Festschrift
I have agreed to contribute with a short (2 pp) article to the planned Festschrift of theNorwegian-Estonian Association (Norsk-Estisk Forening), at the occasion of its 25 yearanniversary. My article will be written in Norwegian, and deal with the (pretty recent) historyof Tartu semiotics, with special emphasis on Juri Lotman and his connection to Norway (notleast the 1986 conference in Bergen, where - for the first and last time - Thomas Sebeok metJuri Lotman).
This short article should be finished by December 20th. The Festschrift will be published in2010, at the occasion of the independence day of the Republic of Estonia (February 24th).
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 07:21 0 comments
New colleagues
Two more researchers have joined the research project "The Cultural Heritage of
Environmental Spaces. A Comparative Analysis Between Estonia and Norway" (the firstreplacing Peder Anker as the Norwegian collaborator in a study of Estonian peat bogs etc.), inwhich I take part with my Ph.D. work as a "main researcher". First, Finn Arne Jrgensen,NTNU, who's involved in environmental history (and trying to establish a Norwegian networkwithin that field). I met him at the first world congress of environmental history inCopenhagen in August. Second, Renata Sukand - who happens to be one of the contributors
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to the special issue of Biosemiotics for which I am one of two guest-editors ('Semiotics ofperception').
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 07:13 0 comments
Labels: comparative analysis, Cultual heritage, Estonia, Norway, peat bogs
THURSDAY, 19 NOVEMBER 2009
Titles - books I would like to have written (or read)
Some of these are good titles (others contain but one word of special interest). Others aregood, or reputed, authors, or concern topics that interest me. Most of them will never beread by me. Some, perhaps, will maybe even be influential in my thinking. Time will(perhaps) tell.
Ahonen, Pertti. 1989. The meaning of money: Comparing a Peircean and Saussurean
perspective. In Kevelson, R., ed., 13-29.
Albone, Eric S. 1984. Mammalian Semiochemistry. Chichester: Wiley.
Anderson, Myrdene & Floyd Merrell, eds. 1991. On Semiotic Modeling. Berlin: Mouton deGruyter.
Aschenberg, Heidi. 1978. Phnomenologische Philosophie und Sprache. Tbingen: Narr.
Balat, Michel & Janice Deledalle-Rhodes, eds. 1992. Signs of Humanity. Berlin: Moutonde Gruyter.
Br, Eugen 1981. Die Zeichenlehre von Thomas A. Sebeok. In Krampen, M., et al., eds.,281-321.
Barnlund, Dean 1981. Toward an ecology of communication. In Mott, C. W. & J. H.Weakland, eds., 87-126.
Baudrillard, Jean. 1972. Pour une critique de lconomie politique du signe. Paris:Gallimard. Port. s.d. Para uma crtica da economia poltica do signo. Lisboa: MartinsFontes.
. 1976. Lchange symbolique et la mort. Paris: Gallimard.
Beck, Cave. 1657. The Universal Character, by Which All the Nations in the World MayUnderstand One Anothers Conceptions. London.
Bentley, Arthur F. 1947. The new semiotic. Philosophy and PhenomenologicalResearch 8.1: 107-31.
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Bernard-Donals, Michael F. 1994. Mikhail Bakhtin Between Phenomenology and Marxism.Cambridge: Univ. Press.
Bierman, Arthur K. 1962. That there are no iconic signs. Philosophy andPhenomenological Research 23: 243-49.
Bonner, John Tyler. 1980. The Evolution of Culture in Animals. Princeton: Univ. Press.
Borsche, Tilman & Werner Stegmaier, eds. 1992. Zur Philosophie des Zeichens. Berlin:de Gruyter.
Bttner, Margueritte. 1980. Zeichensysteme der Tiere: Ein Versuch angewandterSemiotik. Stuttgart: Diss. Phil.
Bouissac, Paul. 1989. What is a human? Ecological semiotics and the new animism.Semiotica 77: 497-516.
Bright, Michael. 1984. Animal Language. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press.Brown, Jerram L. & Gordon H. Orians. 1970. Spacing patterns in mobile animals. AnnualReview of Ecological Systems 1: 239-62.
Buczyska-Garewicz, Hanna. 1984. The degenerate sign. In Borb, T., ed., vol. 1, 43-50.
Bunn, James H. 1981. The Dimensionality of Signs, Tools, and Models. Bloomington:Indiana Univ. Press.
Burkhardt, Dietrich, et al., eds. 1966. Signale der Tierwelt. Mnchen: Moos.
Busnel, Ren-Guy & Andr Classe. 1976. Whistled Languages. Berlin: Springer.Carnap, Rudolf. (1928) 1961. Der logische Aufbau der Welt. Hamburg: Meiner.
Carterette, Edward C. & Morton P. Friedman, eds. 1976. Handbook of Perception. NewYork: Academic Press.
Castaeda, Hector-Neri. 1990. Indicators: The semiotics of experience. In Jacobi, K. &H. Pape, 57-93.
Cheney, Dorothy & Robert M. Seyfarth. 1982. Recognition of individuals within andbetween groups of free-ranging vervet monkeys. American Zoologist 22: 519-529.
Classen, Constance, David Howes & Anthony Synnott. 1994. Aroma: The Cultural Historyof Smell. London: Routledge.
Coker, Wilson. 1972. Music and Meaning. New York: Free Press.
Colapietro, Vincent M. 1989. Peirces Approach to the Self. Albany: State Univ. of NewYork Press.
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Costadeau, Alphonse. (1717) 1983 (1717) 1983. Trait des signes, vol. 1,ed. Le Guern-Forel, O. Bern: Lang.
Crystal, David 1980. Introduction to Language Pathology. London: Arnold.
Dascal, Marcelo. 1978. La smiologie de Leibniz. Paris: Aubier-Montaigne.
Davidson, Donald 1978. What metaphors mean. Critical Inquiry 5: 31-47.
Dawkins, Richard & John R. Krebs. 1978. Animal signals: Information or manipulation. InKrebs, J. R. & N. B. Davies, eds., 282-309.
Deely, John N. 1974. The two approaches to language... Jean Poinsots semiotic. TheThomist 38: 856-907.
Dirven, Ren. 1993. Metonymy and metaphor. Leuvense Bijdragen 82: 1-28.
Dressler, Wolfgang U. 1989. Semiotische Parameter einer textlinguistischen
Natrlichkeitstheorie. Wien: sterr. Akad. der Wiss. (=. A. d. W., Phil.-Hist. Kl.,Sitzungsber., vol. 529).
Dutz, Klaus D. 1985. Historiographia Semioticae (= papmaks 18). Mnster: MAkS.
Ebert, Theodor. 1987. The origin of the Stoic theory of signs in Sextus Empiricus. OxfordStudies in Ancient Philosophy 5: 83-126.
Eco, Umberto 1984b. Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: IndianaUniv. Press.
. 1985a. How culture conditions the colors we see. In Blonsky, M., ed., 157-75.. 1986. Travels in Hyperreality. New York: Harcourt.
Eimermacher, Karl, comp. 1974. Arbeiten sowjetischer Semiotiker der Moskauer undTartuer Schule (Auswahlbibliographie). Kronberg: Scriptor.
Ekman, Paul, ed. 1973. Darwin and Facial Expression. New York: Academic Press.
Emanuele, Pietro. 1982. Prsemiotik und Semiotik in Heidegger. Semiosis 25/26: 140-44.
Fill, Alwin. 1993. kolinguistik. Tbingen: Narr.
Finlay, Marike. 1988. The Romantic Irony of Semiotics: Friedrich Schlegel and the Crisisof Representation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Fleischer, Michael. 1987. Hund und Mensch: Eine semiotische Analyse ihrerKommunikation. Tbingen: Stauffenburg.
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Fraasen, Bas C. van. 1985. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Time and Space. NewYork: Columbia Univ. Press.
Garvin, Harry R., ed. 1976. Phenomenology, Structuralism, Semiology (= BucknellReview, April 1976). Lewisburg: Bucknell Univ. Press.
Gibson, James J. 1966. The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. Boston: Mifflin.
. 1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Mifflin.
Glidden, David. 1983. Skeptic semiotics. Phronesis 28: 213-55.
Harrison, P. A. 1983. Behaving Brazilian: A Comparison of Brazilian and North AmericanSocial Behavior. Rowley: Newbury House.
Havelock, Eric A. 1963. Preface to Plato. Oxford: Blackwell.
Holenstein, Elmar. 1975. Roman Jakobsons phnomenologischer Strukturalismus.
Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp. Port. 1978. Introduo ao pensamento de Roman Jakobson.Rio de Janeiro: J. Zahar.
Jones, Roger S. 1982. Physics as Metaphor. New York: Meridian.
Kalinowski, Georges. 1985. Smiotique et philosophie. Paris, Amsterdam: Hads-Benjamins.
Katz, David. (1925) 1969. Der Aufbau der Tastwelt. Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft.
Kelemen, Jnos 1991. Kants semiotics. In Sebeok, T. A. & J. Umiker-Sebeok, eds., 201-
18.Kiefer, Georg R. 1970. Zur Semiotisierung der Umwelt. Stuttgart: Diss. Phil.
Klaus, Georg. (1963) 1973. Semiotik und Erkenntnistheorie. Mnchen: Fink.
Klinck, Dennis. 1993. The semiotics of money. In Kevelson, R., ed., 229-250.
Koch, Walter A. 1986c. Philosophie der Philologie und Semiotik. Literatur und Welt:Versuche zur Interdisziplinaritt der Philologie. Bochum: Brockmeyer.
. 1989. The Well of Tears: A Biosemiotic Essay on the Roots of Horror, Comic, and
Pathos. Bochum: Brockmeyer.. 1991b. Language in the Upper Pleistocene. Bochum: Brockmeyer.
. 1992. Ecogenesis und echogenesis. In Sebeok, T. A. & J. Umiker-Sebeok, eds.,171-211.
Koch, Walter A., ed. 1982. Semiogenesis. Frankfurt/Main: Lang.
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. 1990d. Semiotics in the Individual Sciences. 2 vols. Bochum: Brockmeyer.
. 1990f. Wissenschaftstheorie und Semiotik. Bochum: Brockmeyer.
Komar, Gerhard 1991. Geldzeichen. Zeitschrift fr Semiotik 13: 345-365.
Krampen, Martin, et al., eds. 1981. Die Welt als Zeichen: Klassiker der modernenSemiotik. Berlin: Severin & Siedler.
Kruse, Felicia 1990. Nature and semiosis. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society26.2: 211-224.
Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Univ. of ChicagoPress.
Lanigan, Richard L. 1977. Speech Act Phenomenology. The Hague: Nijhoff.
Larsen, Hanne Hartvig, et al., eds. 1991. Marketing and Semiotics. Copenhagen:
Handelshjskolen Forlag.
Lewis, Philip E. 1974. Revolutionary semiotics. Diacritics 4 (Fall): 28-32.
Lindgren, J. Ralph. 1993. The emergence of signs: The seminal convention of money. InKevelson, R., ed., 283-297.
Manning, Peter K. 1987. Semiotics and Fieldwork. Newbury Park: Sage.
Meier-Oeser, Stephan 1997a. Die Spur des Zeichens: Das Zeichen und seine Funktion inder Philosophie des Mittelalters und der frhen Neuzeit. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Merrell, Floyd 1996. Signs Grow: Semiosis and Life Processes. Toronto: Univ. Press.
Mick, David G. 1999. A global review of semiotic consumer research (= Working Paper,Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Business).
Montagu, Ashley. 1971. Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin. New York:Columbia Univ. Press.
Oehler, Klaus, ed. 1984. Zeichen und Realitt. 3 vols. Tbingen: Stauffenburg.
Pittenger, Robert E., Charles F. Hockett & John J. Danehy. 1960. The First Five Minutes.
Ithaca, N.Y.: P. Martineau.Pogorzelski, H. A. & W. J. Ryan. 1982. Foundations of Semiological Theory of Numbers.Orono: Univ. of Maine Press.
Presnell, Michael. 1983. Sign, Image, and Desire: Semiotic Phenomenology and the FilmImage. Ann Arbor: Univ. Microfilms Int.
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Preziosi, Donald. 1979b. The Semiotics of the Built Environment. Bloomington: IndianaUniv. Press.
Reis, Carlos. 1993. Towards a Semiotics of Ideology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Romeo, Luigi. 1979d. Ecce Homo: A Lexicon of Man. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Rosenthal, Sandra B. 1998. Phenomenological semiotics. In Posner, R., et al., eds., vol.2, 2096-2112.
Salthe, Stanley. 1998. Naturalizing semiotics. Semiotica 120: 381-394.
Santaella, Lucia. 1996c. Semiosphere: The growth of signs. Semiotica 109: 173-186.
Schiff, William & Emerson Foulke, eds. 1982. Tactual Perception: A Sourcebook.Cambridge: Univ. Press.
Simmel, Georg. (1900) 1922. Philosophie des Geldes. Mnchen: Duncker & Humblot.
Tembrock, Gnter. 1971. Biokommunikation. 2 vols. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Thom, Ren. (1988) 1990. Esquisse dune smiophysique. Ingl. 1990. Semiophysics: ASketch. Redwood City, Cal.: Addision-Wesley.
Thompson, Michael. 1979. Rubbish Theory. Oxford: Univ. Press.
Trampe, Wilhelm. 1990. kologische Linguistik. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
Trevarthen, Colwyn. 1994. Infant semiosis. In Nth, W., ed., 219-252.
Valsiner, Jaan & Jri Allik. 1982. General semiotic capabilities of the higher primates. InKey, M. R., ed., 245-57.
Vincent Ferrer. (ca. 1400) 1977. Tractatus de suppositionibus. Ed. Trentman, J. A.Stuttgart: Frommann.
Walther, Fritz R. 1984. Communication and Expression in Hooved Mammals.Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
Wescott, Roger W. 1984. Semiogenesis and paleogenesis. Semiotica 48: 181-85.
Yaguello, Marina. 1991. Lunatic Lovers of Language: Imaginary Languages and their
Inventors. London: Athlone.
Zarcadoolas, Christina. 1983. How to Do Things with Linguistics, Semiotics, Speech Acts,and Phenomenology. Ph. D. Thesis, Brown Univ. Ann Arbor: Univ. Microfilms Int.
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 06:40 0 comments
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Labels: bibliography, books, semiotics, tidsklemma, titles
WEDNESDAY, 18 NOVEMBER 2009
Course work on Uexkll - meetings at UiA - the philosophy business
I'm following the T course "Readings of Juri Lotman and Jakob von Uexkll", and the firsthalf, considering the work of Uexkll, has now finished. A couple of days ago I submitted the(first) term paper, "An Uexkllian Theory of Evolution?" (7 pp). I have further - since Iliterarily take the course as a reading course, from a distance - submitted 6 c3 pp papers withQ&As, covering the reading material.
Uexkll and evolution for many sounds like a topic that spells out a contradiction in terms.That, I believe, does not necessarily have to be the case. Whereas some biosemioticians (e.g.Stjernfelt 2001) have asserted that Uexkll was anti-evolution, others (e.g. Salthe 2001; Kull2004) have concluded that he was anti-Darwinian, but not hostile to the idea of evolution assuch. Here I must agree with the latter group, as I hope will shine through in the rest of thisexposition. And not only do I think Uexkll was not anti-evolution (though, as I explain inTnnessen 2009, he was programmatically not historically-minded) more than that; I believethat an Uexkllian perspective might actually prove to be enriching within the field ofevolutionary theory. Theres proof that Uexkll did not only have negative, but also positive,thought about evolution in his dictum (1928: 198) that each new appearing functional cycleverifies [the appearance of] a new animal species (my translation).
Meanwhile, the committee for the UiA Philosophy Forum has held its first meeting (thisMonday).
So has - today - UiA's "Fagfilosofisk seksjon" (Academic philosophical section), consisting of thephilosophers at Department of religion, philosophy and history. The topic, which has beendiscussed at one previous meeting as well and will be discussed further at the institute levelin December, concerns establishing new (more advanced) courses in philosophy as part of arevised bachelor degree (which is today a bachelor in religion). One day, some say, we mightoffer a master in philosophy. That would truly be of great value for the philosophy milieu atUiA, and its attraction for students and scholars alike. Today only a one-year studium isoffered (apart from the broader introductory course, Examen Philosophicum).
Meanwhile ... I have finished (yesterday) a catalogue, or leaflet (4 pp), presenting the paid
services offered by my one-man company, SPR FILOSOFEN (Ask the philosopher) - rangingfrom lectures and courses via writing and editing to consultancy activities. You'll find it onScribd.
And thus the world advances...
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 05:43 0 comments
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Labels: bachelor, course, evolution, Lotman, philosophy, philosophy business, SPRFILOSOFEN, T biosemiotics, Uexkll, UiA, University of Agder, University of Tartu
WEDNESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2009
Committee for UiA Philosophy Forum
The committee for the University of Agder Philosophy Forum (styringsgruppa for FilosofiskForum) now seems to be in place, counting the following members:
/
Hvard Lkke
Olav Andreas Opedal
Hege Stensland
Morten Tnnessen
Ralph Henk Vaags
/
The first meeting of the committee is likely to be arranged this Monday. The first Forum inthis round will likely take place in January.
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 06:13 0 comments
Labels: forum, philosophy, styringsgruppa for Filosofisk forum, UiA, University of Agder
THURSDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2009
Philosophy in Stavanger (siddisfilosofi)
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This term - starting November 27th or so - I will take part in the marking at ExamenPhilosophicum at the University of Stavanger (the university of the town where I was born, onthe West coast of Norway), as an external examiner. Written exam is the genre, 3,000 wordsthe approximate length of the apparently 160 exam papers.
I am thus for the moment connected to no less than three universities - University ofStavanger (as an external examiner), University of Agder (as a lecturer, research assistant,and involved in philosophy forums) and University of Tartu (as a Ph.D. student, andparticipant in research projects etc.).
Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 07:04 0 comments
WEDNESDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2009
Philosophy in Kristiansand
Today I met with Ralph Henk Vaags at UiA. We have agreed to restart 'Filosofisk fagforum'[Forum for academic philosophy], as well as 'Filosofisk forskerforum' [Philosophical researchforum] at the University of Agder (in both cases it's the first time I'm partaking). For now theplan for the former is to arrange monthly 2-hrs seminars next spring. The two of us expect toform the responsible committee, along with a student representative.
Independently of these activities, the town of Kristiansand also features a near-monthly'philosophical caf', Kristiansand Filosofikaf, dating back to 2001.
Not bad for a mid-size Norwegian town whose biggest celebrity is a chimpanzee called Julius(who happens to be one of the town's best painters, as well).
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Posted by Morten Tnnessen at 08:28 0 comments
Labels: forum, Julius, Kristiansand, Kristiansand Filosofikaf, philosophy of biology, UiA,University of Agder
W E D N E S D A Y , 4 N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9
"An ageing giant" - Arne Nss in memory
I have just come across the newsletter wherein my brief text "An ageing giant"
appears (p13).
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
NEWSLETTER
_____________________________________________________Volume 20, No. 2 Spring/Summer 2009
Morten Tnnessen, Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, University of Tartu, Estonia:
An Ageing Giant
It is hard to summarize what Arne Nss has meant to mefirst of all because he has
been so decisive in forming me as a practicing philosopher. For years I had difficulties
seeing where, at all, I would disagree with him (a problem I have now to some extent
overcome). I was early on inspired by his interpretation of Gandhis political ethicsthats how I made the leap from activist to student of philosophy. As is the case for so
many Norwegians, it was his work that introduced me to philosophy. A course in deep
ecology at kerya in Norway in the late 1990s was central in giving me a more solid
basis for eco-philosophical reasoning (a couple years later Knut Olav Fossestl,
another course participant, and I founded the Eco-philosophical colloquium at the
University of Oslo). By then Arne was already a familiar face for me as a philosophy
student30 years after he retired as professor, he was still around offering public
lectures. In 2001 and 2003, I arranged public events with him myself. By 2003,however, it was clear that this brilliant mind struggled to remain intellectually alert
and coherent. A request to partake in a proposal (concerning the Norwegian Petro-
fund) from the Green Party of Norway, for which I was the national secretary at the
time, was therefore revoked.
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I interviewed him a couple of times. After the kerya seminar I sent him my first
booklong philosophical manuscript, Dialog. He had agreed to comment it, but now I
got it returned, with an exact explanation: 372 pages! I never knew whether to call
him Arne or Nss. Despite having met him around a dozen times, he never appeared
with certaintyto recognize me (I wish he had). Today I have the fortune of being in
contact with some of his closest colleagues at the eco-scene. The last time I was in
contact with him (through Kit-Fai) was in 2006, when I was conducting a survey of
attitudes in the Norwegian environmentalist establishmentpartly inspired by his own
little survey on attitudes to nature among Norwegian bureaucrats and others carried
out a generation or so earlier. As I heard the news of his death, I pondered home to
our house in Mag, Brazil, where we were at the time, and stepped into our outdoor
swimming pool, as the day darkened. A couple of bats joined me. I retreated to a
corner, offering the two nocturnal creatures (ecological!) space enough to rejoice
undisturbed in their playful bath.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 04:56 0 COMMENTS LABELS: ARNE NSS , BAT , DEATH , DEEP ECOLOGY , ENVIRONMENTALETHICS
M O N D A Y , 2 6 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
The wolf as scapegoat
My debate article "Ulven som syndebukk" [The wolf as scapegoat] is in print today in
the major Norwegian national daily Dagbladet.
A longer Norwegian version of the text is to be found in my Norwegian blog, Utopisk
Realisme.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 08:21 0 COMMENTS LABELS: WOLF IMAGERY , WOLF MANAGEMENT , WOLF POLITICS
F R I D A Y , 2 3 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
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Co-editing of special issue on biosemiotics
Yesterday I agreed to co-edit a special issue of Hortus Semioticus on biosemiotics
(zoosemiotics etc. included) with Nelly Mekivi and Riin Magnus.
The special issue, which will feature articles in both English and Estonian and is
expected to appear as no. 7, 2010 (after no. 5 is published this year and no. 6 is
published as a regular number in the spring of 2010), will include an interview with
Kalevi Kull (link inactive at the time of writing this...), conducted by Riin Magnus and
me.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 07:19 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: BIOSEMIOTICS, ECOSEMIOTICS, HORTUS SEMIOTICUS , KALEVI KULL ,ZOOSEMIOTICS
First semioethics interview published + "Meditationes Semioticae"
Hortus Semioticus no. 4 (2009) appeared some days ago. My contributions:
Pp57-80 "Tell me, where is morality bred? The Semioethics Interviews I: John Deely"
PDF here
Pp81-84: "Meditationes Semioticae: Signs grow but should they? Semioethics and the
dominant semiosis of Homo sapiens sapiens" PDF here
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 07:14 0 COMMENTS LABELS: ETHICS, HOMO SAPIENS , HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS , JOHN DEELY ,SEMIOETHICS, SEMIOSIS , SIGNS, SIGNS GROW
W E D N E S D A Y , 2 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Proceedings of the world congress in semiotics 2007
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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
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Gregory Bateson
Donald Favareau
Arne Nss
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".
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 12:52 0 COMMENTS LABELS: INDEX , INTRINSIC VALUE , JOHN DEELY , PHENOMENOLOGY,PROCEEDINGS, RADIOHEAD, SELF , SEMIOETHICS, SEMIOTIC ECONOMY ,SEMIOTICS, UEXKLL , UMWELT , WORLD CONGRESS
Poster presentation presentation
My poster "Mapping human impact: Ecological footprint vs. ontological niche" is on
display at the second CECT autumn conference, "Spatiality, memory and visualisation
of culture/nature relationships", tomorrow from 4 to 6 p.m. The 5 minute oral
presentation of my poster presentation has been scheduled for 17.00-17.05. Full
poster programme here.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 11:40 0 COMMENTS LABELS: CECT , ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT , MAP , ONTOLOGICAL NICHE ,SPATIALITY. CULTURE/NATURE
M O N D A Y , 1 9 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Proceedings
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Last week I submitted my contribution to the 10th world congress in semiotics
proceedings, "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf".
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 10:37 0 COMMENTS LABELS: THE BIG BAD WOLF , WOLF IMAGERY , WOLF MANAGEMENT , WOLFPOLITICS
T H U R S D A Y , 1 5 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Animal play article to appear in December
I expect my article "Abstraction, cruelty and other aspects of animal play" to appear in
December, in the special issue on zoosemiotics of the journal Sign Systems Studies.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:38 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: ANIMAL PLAY, ANIMAL STUDIES, SEMIOTICS, ZOOSEMIOTICS
W E D N E S D A Y , 1 4 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Mapping human impact
My poster presentation for the Oct. 22-24 Tallinn conference on Spatiality, memory and
visualization of human/nature relations (text only):
MORTEN TNNESSEN: MAPPING HUMAN IMPACT
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT VS. ONTOLOGICAL NICHE
In this presentation I compare my ecosemiotic concept of a human ontological niche (cf.
Tnnessen 2009) with the concept of an ecological footprint, with respect to how either of
these can be applied as tools in mapping human impact in nature. An ontological niche aconcept derived from Jakob von Uexklls Umwelt concept can be defined as the set (or
whole) of ecological relations (or contrapuntal relations, be they somatic, social or ecological)
a being or life form partakes in at a certain point in natural history (figure: early version (1920)
of Uexkllsfunctional cycle).
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(fig.)
The ecological footprint concept, on its hand, first introduced in 1996, is now being used by
WWF (LIVING PLANET REPORT) and developed methodologically by THE GLOBAL FOOTPRINTNETWORK. Claimed to be a tool that makes sustainability measurable, it condenses a complex
array of consumption down into a single number.
The developers of the ecological footprint model stress that it includes only those aspects of
resource consumption and waste production for which the Earth has regenerative capacity.
What it does is converting consumption into the land used in production, along with the land
theoretically needed to sequester the greenhouse gases produced. By dividing Humanitys
Ecological Footprint (currently 2,7 global hectares per person) by World Biocapacity which
is (oftentimes) modelled as being constant we arrive at the conclusion that humanity as a
whole has been unsustainable (accumulating ecological debt) since the late 80s. When the
footprint of a country does not surpass its biocapacity, it is said to be sustainable.
(fig.)
As we can see in the WWF figures below, global biocapacity is modelled as being potentially
decreasing (in case of sustained/accumulated ecological overshoot) or increasing (in case of
proper management).
(fig.)
(fig.)
The ecological footprint model has several limitations, not least the fact that there are many
environmental problems it cannot represent. It further says little or nothing about the
intensity of land use. From an ethical point of view, it is biased toward anthropocentricism in
assuming that sustainability entails that humanity can exploit the Earths biocapacity fully.
It is also anthropocentric from a methodological point of view, since it represents human
consumption and ecosystem services only both being purely human interests.
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The human ontological niche concept, in contrast, is designed in order to display the
ecological relations in which humanity partakes. As Nathan Fiala (2008: 519) remarks, better
measures of sustainability would address [environmental issues] directly. Whereas the
simplicity of the ecological footprint is not only its greatest advantage but also its greatest
disadvantage, the human ontological niche concept is better suited to account for variety
within and across ecosystems, because its biggest advantage is its (qualitative, rather than
quantitative) specificity. It further allows for disparate ethical assumptions.
I will now model selected global environmental data to demonstrate how the human
ontological niche concept can be applied as a modelling tool scrutinizing human impact in
nature. The basic problem is this: How can we model human impact in nature a crude,
aggregate measure based on a theory of the phenomenological experiences of individual
creatures (be they human or non-human)?
(fig.)
Above the global populations of selected livestock groups are represented in numerical terms
(data taken from Livestocks long shadow, FAO 2006). How could we represent these global
data in qualitative terms?
(fig.)
Here a few differences in the size of circles (3 categories) and thickness (3 categories) are
chosen to represent the relative importance of livestock groups and the character of our
relations to them. In more general terms some crucial traditional features of the human
ontological niche can be represented as depicted below (note that a positive attitude to
conservation can change the quality of our relation to big carnivores as well as to wasteland
species).
(fig.)
A few simple comments:
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Resources/individuals: While an ecological footprint approach tends to focus on biomass
(natural creatures qua resources), an ontological niche approach will tend to focus on
individuals/subjects, wherever there are individuals.
Relative/Absolute: From a phenomenological point of view everything is relative to thesubjects. But absolute numbers (i.e. the totals relative to the entire Earth system) matter
too.
Qualitative/quantitative: Quantitative data must be analyzed in qualitative (oversight)
terms. But qualities alone tell as little about a concrete empirical situation as quantities
alone. Volume matters and so does the quality (nature) of our ecological relations!
Simplifying/re-presenting complexity:All modelling entails simplification. What is decisive is
that qualitative analysis at all steps is to guide quantitative representations, and thatalienating decontextualization is to be avoided.
REFERENCES
Livestocks long shadow: Environmental issues and options. FAO 2006.
Living Planet Report 2008. WWF.
Fiala, Nathan 2008. Measuring sustain-ability: Why the ecological footprint is bad
economics and bad environmental science. Ecological Economics 67: 519-525.
Tnnessen, Morten 2009. Umwelt transitions: Uexkll and environmental change.
Biosemiotics 2.1: 47-64.
Uexkll, Jakob von 1920. Theoretische Biologie (first edition). Berlin: Julius Springer.
This poster presentation has been carried out aspart of the research projects THE CULTURALHERITAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPACES: ACOMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN ESTONIA ANDNORWAY (EEAETF Grant EMP 54), DYNAMICALZOOSEMIOTICS AND ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS
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(ETF/ESF 7790) and METHODS OF BIOSEMIOTICS(ETF/ESF 6669).
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:04 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: CECT, ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT, ONTOLOGICAL NICHE, POSTER PRESENTATION,TALLINN
F R I D A Y , 9 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Poster presentation on the notion of ecological footprints
I am in the process of preparing my poster presentation for the CECT (Center of excellence in
cultural theory) II conference "Spatiality, memory and visualisation of culture/nature
relationships: theoretical aspects", entitled "Mapping human impact: Ecological footprint vs.ontological niche".
Names of all poster presentations are to be found here, abstracts of oral presentations here.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:33 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: CECT, CULTURAL THEORY, ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT, NICHE, ONTOLOGICAL
NICHE, POSTER PRESENTATION, SEMIOTIC NICHE, TALLINN
W E D N E S D A Y , 7 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
Chronicles in Norwegian media - wolf politics
October 2nd my chronicle "Den kinesiske miljbevegelsen" [The Chinese Environmental
Movement] appeared in Adresseavisen, the major regional newspaper in mid-Norway (cf.
previous report).
Yesterday I wrote a chronicle entitled "Ulven som syndebukk" [The Wolf as a Scapegoat], that
I now submit to Dagbladet, Norway's third biggest national daily.
The political platform of the re-elected coalition government is said to be ready for
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announcement in one and a half hour. According to preliminary news reports, Senterpartiet
(which has around 6 % of the vote) has not succeeded in its efforts to reach an agreement
with the two other governing parties according to which all remaining wolves would be shot,
and no wolves would be tolerated on Norwegian land.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:40 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: ADRESSA, CHRONICLES, DAGBLADET, NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT, SCAPEGOAT,
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION, WOLF MANAGEMENT, WOLF POLITICS, WOLVES
T H U R S D A Y , 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9
New wolf essay
I have recently finished an article entitled "Is a wolf wild as long as it does not knowthat it is
being thoroughly man-handled?". The essay has been submitted to Humanimalia.
Abstract: The animals of the recovering Scandinavian wolf population are evidently shy, but
thoroughly man-handled, by wildlife managers as well as illegal hunters and others. After
much wilderness has vanished, the current wolf population dwells in a so-called multi-use
environment. Their interaction with human artefacts and constructions is substantial. The
author argues that the long-term conservation goal should be not simply viability, but
independent viability - i.e., viability independent of the continued actions of humans.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 06:20 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: ANIMAL STUDIES, HUMANIMALIA, WOLF ECOLOGY, WOLF MANAGEMENT, WOLF
POLITICS
W E D N E S D A Y , 3 0 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
Annotated bibliography, 3rd quarter
As part of a 4-times-a-year report I am conducting as a researcher in one of the research
projects I am partaking in, I write a Selected Annotated Bibliography. Here's my annotated
bibliography for the last three months.
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Douglas W. MacCLEERY: American forests: A history of resilience and recovery. Forest
History Society, 1992. This publication offers a lot of interesting statistics and facts not
only since 1930 or so, when the proportion of US land that is forested has generally been
stable, after 300 years of deforestation, but also concerning times as far back as to year
1600 (even native indigenous forestry practices are briefly described). The last century
several wildlife species have recovered, not least due to the gradual introduction of
conservation measures. In conclusion, this work is a helpful source of references and
thoroughly examines the full implications of different attitudes to forests and utilization
of forest products. Though the situation of Norwegian forests is not identical with the
American situation, this book nevertheless provides useful knowledge about the
interconnections of conservation efforts and forestry practices/land use.
The Norwegian daily Nationen [The nation], Mon 31st of August Wed 9th of September.The latest national election in Norway took place September 14th. For 10 days close to
the conclusion of the election, I followed Nationen, Norways only national daily
devoted to matters of agriculture and rural policies. Every day in this period there were
articles etc. about carnivore policy; about half of the editions one of them featured on
the front page. In many rural areas, wolf and carnivore policy turned out to become one
of the defining topics of the electoral campaign, though only 3 parties (Senterpartiet,
Fremskrittspartiet and Sosialistisk Venstreparti) talked much about it. For the first time
the populist right-wing party Fremskrittspartiet competed seriously for the anti-wolfvotes though Senterpartiet, traditionally the farmers party, still dominated the
discourse. The carnivore policy for 2009-2013 is now up for negotiations within the re-
elected coalition government, which consists of Arbeiderpartiet (the social democrats),
Senterpartiet and Sosialistisk Venstreparti (a left-wing party which supports wolf
conservation).
Paolo VIRNO: Natural-historical diagrams: The new global movement and the biological
invariant. Pp. 131-147 in The Italian difference: Between nihilism and biopolitics (eds.
Lorenzo Chiesa and Alberto Toscano), Melbourne 2009: re.press. Translated from Italian
by Alberto Toscano. Virnos notion of the natural-historical diagrams of human nature
refers to concrete phenomena, socio-political states of affairs, historical events. He
thus offers an empirical (or emergent) notion of human nature which can be of
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interest in the context of my depicting of a natural history of the phenomenal world.
Crucial in Virnos observations is that human nature as we know it places us as an
indefinite animal, an animal without any definitive natural environment. This, he
claims, explains our instability as a species, and our constant urge for further
modifications of the environment. It would be interesting to integrate and try to
develop some of his main points in my own work.
Wendy WHEELER: The Whole Creature: Complexity, Biosemiotics and the Evolution of
Culture. London 2006: Lawrence & Wishart. In this valuable book, Wheeler outlines
some connections between biosemiotics and other complexity science on the one hand
and politics and cultural theory on the other. In the context of my work Wheelers book
represents an important step toward a proper understanding of the cultural implications
of competing scientific outlooks and worldviews. While Wheeler on some pointssimplifies the connections between capitalism and mainstream science, her portrayal
of the cultural and ethical (and political) implications of a world view of biosemiotic
relationism rather than one of capitalist atomism/individualism is in the main
informative and telling. The main message which I do subscribe to is that human
beings are social (and ecological) creatures which can not thrive or correctly be
described on a theoretical level as isolated individuals. Her stress of the social and
ecological aspects of cultural life bears implications not least for economic thought.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 08:44 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: B IOSEMIOT ICS , COMPLEX ITY SC IENCE, DOUGLAS MACCLEERY, FORESTRY,
NATIONEN, NATURAL-HISTORICAL DIAGRAMS, PAOLO VIRNO, WENDY WHEELER, WILDLIFE
CONSERVAT ION
S A T U R D A Y , 2 6 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
"Outline of an Uexkllian bio-ontology" referred to in encyclopedia
article
My article "Outline of an Uexkllian bio-ontology" - my very first academic article, published
in Sign Systems Studies in 2001 - is included in the literature list of the entry for "Uexkll,
Jacob Johann Baron von (1864-1944)" in volume XXIX of Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon (BBKL): Nachschlagewerk mit aktuellen Nachtrgen (columns 1455-1483 -
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author: Heike Delitz). This volume was published in 2008 in Nordhausen by the publisher
Traugott Bautz.
Full reference:
- Tnnessen, Morten: Outline of an Uexkllian bio-ontology, in: Sign Systems Studies 29
(2001), 683-691
The encyclopedia entry also appears on Spiegel Wissen.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 14:09 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY, OUTLINE OF AN UEXKLLIAN BIO-ONTOLOGY, SPIEGEL,
UEXKLL
W E D N E S D A Y , 2 3 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
On site in A Corua, Spain
I have just arrived in A Corua (Galicia), Spain, where the 10th world congress of
semiotics takes place. It has been a long journey. I have been travelling (first by
ferry, and then) by train - more than 3,000 km. It is my first time in Spain. Se my
approximate route here.
Friday I will be presenting my talk "The changing imagery of the big bad wolf" -
with examples from the Norwegian national election September 14th.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 13:52 0 COMMENTS LABELS: A CORUA , SPAIN , THE BIG BAD WOLF , WOLF IMAGERY , WOLFMANAGEMENT, WOLF POLITICS
W E D N E S D A Y , 1 6 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
The abstract book of the 2009 world congress in semiotics
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... 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 Tnnessen (UNIVERSITY OF TARTU)
The current work is part of the authors 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 mans best
FRIEND.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 08:21 0 COMMENTS LABELS: ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS , ANIMAL STUDIES , FICTION, NORWAY,SEMIOTICS, SHEEP , THE BIG BAD WOLF , WOLF ECOLOGY , WOLF IMAGERY ,WOLF MANAGEMENT , WORLD CONGRESS
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Reflection piece in Hortus Semioticus
Yesterday Ifinished a little article entitled "Signs grow - but should they? Semioethics
and the dominant semiosis of Homo sapiens sapiens".
What is the nature of semiosis? And what is the culture of semiosis?
To be published in the soon-to-be-published Hortus Semioticus (where the first
semioethics interview - with John Deely - will be published as well). "Signs grow - but
should they?" represents the first in a series of reflections by young semioticians fully
occupied in "the semiotic garden".
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:08 0 COMMENTS LABELS: FLOYD MERRELL , JOHN DEELY , SEMIOETHICS
T U E S D A Y , 1 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
My first blurb
Yesterday I delivered my first blurb.
Occasion: Paul Cobley (ed.): Realism for the 21st Century. A John Deely Reader-
to be published by Scranton University Press.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:39 0 COMMENTS LABELS: BLURB , JOHN DEELY , PAUL COBLEY , SCRANTON UNIVERSITY PRESS
M O N D A Y , 7 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 9
Research assistant (UiA) - multimodality
I have been assigned as a research assistant of the UiA (Agder University) researchproject "Multimodalitet, leseopplring og lremidler (MULL)" - "Multimodality,
reading training and educational materials". In this position I will have some work to
do this autumn and next spring, related first of all to dissemination of results. The
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project sorts under the Department of Nordic and media Studies, Faculty of
Humanities and Education.
Norwegian language project site here.POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 06:31 2 COMMENTS LABELS: AGDER UNIVERSITY , MULTIMODALITY, READING , RESEARCHASSISTANT, UIA
S U N D A Y , 3 0 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
Presentation in T seminar on the methodology of the humanities
Title for my talk: "Methodological challenges in analyzing wolf ecology and wolfmanagement within a semiotic-phenomenological framework".
The seminar takes place at the department of semiotics, and will be organized by
Peeter Torop.
Date T.B.A.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 08:42 0 COMMENTS
F R I D A Y , 2 8 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
New timetable for "Semiotics of Perception"
Kati Lindstrm and I have just agreed with the editor-in-chief of Biosemiotics,
Marcello Barbieri, that the special issue "Semiotics of Perception", an outcome of the
SemioPhenomenon workshops in Tartu February 2009 ("The Ecology of Perception" and
"Animal Minds"), for which we are the guest editors, will be published as no. 2, 2010
(August) in stead of as no. 1, 2010 (April), as originally planned.
Contributors:
David Abram
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John Deely
Kalevi Kull
Kati Lindstrm
Timo Maran
Silver Rattasepp
Renata Sukand & Raivo Kalle
Morten Tnnessen
Wendy Wheeler
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 01:59 0 COMMENTS LABELS: BIOSEMIOTICS, PERCEPTION , PHENOMENOLOGY, SEMIOTICS OFPERCEPTION
T H U R S D A Y , 2 7 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
University teacher
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Today I wrote the contract for teaching in the history of philosophy at Agder
University (UiA), Kristiansand, Norway this autumn. Hopefully I will be reassigned for
next spring (Kristiansand) and summer (Lesvos, Greece) at a later point.
First lecture took place this Monday, in the biggest auditorium of the university,
named after Henrik Ibsen, with some 200 students present - the second on Tuesday.
At the very first one, I took some time telling about the history of examen
philosophicum (which started out in Copenhagen in the 17th century) in Norway, not
least Arne Nss' role in modern times; and the ongoing debate on the place of
Ex.phil. in the Norwegian education system (after decades and centuries of revisions
and cuts).
I am now a:
- Ph.D. student
- Researcher (in 3 research projects)
- University teacher ("universitetslektor")
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 10:02 0 COMMENTS LABELS: AGDER UNIVERSITY , ARNE NSS , COPENHAGEN, EX.PHIL. , EXAMENPHILOSOPHICUM, KRISTIANSAND, LESVOS, TEACHER , TEACHING , UIA
F R I D A Y , 2 1 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
Report from China to appear in Norwegian media
One of the talks I appreciated the most at the First World Congress of Environmental
History, in Copenhagen, August 4-8, was "The Rise, Development, and Influence of the
Environmental NGOs in China" by professor Xueqin Mei and Da Mao from Beijing,
China. I have composed an article based on their talk. This article has been accepted
for publication (possibly only in a few weeks) in a regional Norwegian newspaper with
fairly good circulation.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 10:51 0 COMMENTS
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LABELS: CHINA, ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY , ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT ,NGOS
T U E S D A Y , 4 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
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, judgingby 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.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 08:00 0 COMMENTS LABELS: BALTIC STATES , BALTICUM , ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY , ESTONIA,LESOTHO, UNIVERSITY OF TARTU , US , WORLD CONGRESS
Q & A with Paul Crutzen
Here at the First World Congress of Environmental History (Copenhagen/Malm August
4-8) Nobel laureate in chemistry Paul J. Crutzen gave the first traditional plenary
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talk, entitled "The Anthropocene: Humans as a force in global environmental cycles".
A good talk it was (though in the context of climate change I would not pragmatically
allude to geo-engineering - which Crutzen did refer to in conclusion, "out of despair"
(being clear, to be fair, that it was only a "last resort", and that other solutions should
be sought).
I asked him a question in the Q & A session following Crutzen's talk. First I referred to
his mention of the incredible economic growth of the last century, and said I
understood his despair with regard to climate change. But what role has the economy
to play in this context? Is our current economic model viable, or not?
Paul Crutzen answered, after a moment of hesitation, that he though the current
economic crisis is evidence that our current economic model is not viable (laughter
from the audience).
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:19 0 COMMENTS LABELS: ANTHROPOCENE, CRUTZEN, ECONOMIC CRISIS , ENVIRONMENTALHISTORY
S A T U R D A Y , 1 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
Copenhagen (WCEH)
The full program - including abstracts - of the world congress in environmental
history, to take place in Copenhagen next week, is available at
https://whec2009.ruc.dk/program/pdf.
/
Why is it that so many academic events have such high-society profiles? At WCEH2009,
lunch + coffee can be bought for 2000 DKK - 400 DKK (around 50 Euros) per day! Such
prices discourage participation from low-income countries, and persons (as well as forscholars and students who don't mind - or even prefer - normal standards).
/
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Same story with hotels (pensions and B&B are more often than not not even
mentioned as options - cf. the upcoming world congress in semiotics in La Coruna,
Spain).
/
As for the program, I am to be found at p.7 (program) and 183 (abstract).
1001 Estranged, Endangered, Extinct. Lessons from the Extinction of the
Scandinavian Wolf
Morten Tnnessen, University of Tartu
/
After thousands of wolves had been shot, the Scandinavian wolf went extinct.
But it reappeared and in Norway its had the status of a protected species since
1972. For many sheep farmers widely regarded as the clearest antagonists of
the wolves the current wolf management remains a symbol of their modern
estrangement. In what way does the estrangement of sheep farmers relate to
the equally evident estrangement of the still endangered wolves?
Other Norwegian topics at WHEC2009:
380 Making yourself at home in nature: The conflict between public access toland and leisure cabin ownership in Norway, 1850-2000
Finn Arne Jrgensen, [email protected], NTNU
/
473 Local knowledge in a global industry: the formation and movement of the
science of salmonaquaculture
Stephen Bocking, [email protected], Trent University
/
914 War over Whales: Radical Environmentalist Organizations and ScientificKnowledge in Whaling Controversies
Morten Haugdahl, [email protected], Norwegian University of
Science and Technology (NTNU)
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/
959 The standard of living, consumption and the environment in Norway 1726-
2006
Kjell Bjrn Minde, [email protected], Stord University College
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 06:15 2 COMMENTS LABELS: COPENHAGEN, ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY , HIGH SOCIETY , PRICES,SEMIOTICS, WCEH , WOLF ECOLOGY , WOLF MANAGEMENT , WORLDCONGRESS
F R I D A Y , 3 1 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
Existential universals
Yesterday I finished my article "Existential universals: Biosemiosis and existential
semiosis", for Eero Tarasti's anthology Transcending Signs.
Contents:
"Semiotics of being"
"Universals of biosemiosis"
"On Earth - the natural setting of the human condition"
"On the alienation of the semiotic animal"
Let there be no doubt: Existential universals can be articulated and
conceptualized in a variety of ways. Any numbered list would be likely to be
incomplete - and any chronological exposition may well be at least in part
arbitrary. That being said, this is my bid.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:44 0 COMMENTS
S U N D A Y , 2 6 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
Brian Goodwin (1931-2009)
I just got the news that Brian Goodwin is dead, since July 15th.
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B.G. held a PhD in theoretical biology. Among his books are How The Leopard
Changed Its Spots (1994). He liked climbing trees. B.G. will be remembered for his
pioneering contributions to theoretical biology and complexity science, not least
through his development of biological structuralism (incomplete Wikipedia-article
here). For many years at the end of his life (ten, or a bit more) Brian taught at
Schumacher College, UK. His latest title there was "Scholar in residence". In addition
to contributing to short courses he taught at their groundbreaking MSc in Holistic
science - for which he was of foundational importance, along with staff ecologist
(deep ecologist, James Lovelock-colleague) Stephan Harding.
Personally I encountered Goodwin at two occasions. First, when - the autumn of 1999- I resided at Schumacher college for three months as a volunteer. B.G. was at that
point the main responsible for the newly created MSc in Holistic science, which I
believe was in its second year. Now and then I got to listen to his talks in the MSc or
in courses, or talk with him at dinner etc. My second encounter with Goodwin occured
in the summer/autumn of 2006. At the age of 75, he accepted an invitation to figure
in the advisory board of a Nordic-Baltic Research Network for Philosophy of Biology.
The network never got funding, and therefore never materialised. I was onboard as
the assigned secretary of this network.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 01:15 0 COMMENTS LABELS: CLIMBING TREES , COMPLEXITY, GOODWIN, HOLISM , HOLISTICSCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY , SCHUMACHER COLLEGE ,STRUCTURALISM, THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
W E D N E S D A Y , 1 5 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
The Global Species
I have just finished my journal article 'The Global Species', for New formations.
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In this article I will attempt to demonstrate that the historical process of globalization -
in the long term - can be outlined in terms of the expanding and eventually practically
global range (occurrence) not only of our own species, but of several of our affiliated
species as well.
Contents:
The Ecosemiotics of Globalisation
The Beginnings of Globalisation
The Ecology of Capitalism
The Politics of Biosemiotics
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 02:35 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: B IOSEMIOTICS, CAPITALISM, ECOSEMIOTICS, GLOBAL, GLOBALISATION,GLOBALIZATION, HOMO SAPIENS, HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS, POLITICS, RANGE, SPECIES,
THE GLOBAL SPECIES, WOLF ECOLOGY
F R I D A Y , 1 0 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
Lecturer at University of Agder
I have agreed to give lectures this autumn at the Department of Religion, Philosophy and
History, Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of Agder (Norway). The lectures, in
the history of philosophy, are part of Examen Philosophicum (Ex.Phil.), the Norwegian
compulsory introduction to philosophy.
Philosophers covered will include the following:
Plato
Aristotle
Augustin
Macchiavelli
Hobbes
Descartes
Hume
Kant
Kierkegaard
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Classes start August 24th.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 04:50 0 COMMENTS
T H U R S D A Y , 9 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
Brief report from Gathering in Biosemiotics 9, Prague
The 9th Gathering in biosemiotics took place in Prague, The Czech republic, June 30th-July
4th. 48 presentations were scheduled in the programme (abstract book here), a few of which
were cancelled.
Some talks I enjoyed (I did not attend all talks):
Edward BAENZIGER: "Photosemiosis in orchids"
Eliseo FERNNDEZ: "Biosemiotics and the relational turn in biology"
Jonathan HOPE: "Umweltrume and multi-sensory integration"
Timo MARAN and Karel KLEISNER: "Semiotic selection, cooption, and good old Darwin: Is there
a common basis for the explanation of mimicry, sexual selection, and domestication?"
My talk, "On contrapuntuality: Semiotic niche vs. ontological niche: the case of the
Scandinavian wolf population" was given Friday 3rd of July - and went well, with positive
response and useful feedback.
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I further enjoyed the spirited company of (among others) Myrdene ANDERSON, Luis Emileo
BRUNI, Sara CANNIZZARO, Paul COBLEY, Stephen PAIN, Riin MAGNUS, Rex ALEXANDER and
Prisca AUGUSTYN.
Augustyn held an interesting workshop on Uexkll translation (she is currently translating
Theoretische Biologie (1928), among other texts). The gathering also featured a lively
roundtable on the concept of meaning within biology, to which there were 20 suggestions for
definitions.
The next gatherings will be arranged the following places (main responsible in
parenthesis):2010: Portugal ... (Joo Carlos MAJOR)
2011: New York (Victoria ALEXANDER)
2012: Tartu (Kalevi KULL)
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 04:55 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: B IOSEMIOTICS, CONTRAPUNTUALITY, MEANING, PRAGUE, SEMIOTIC NICHE,
THEORETICAL B IOLOGY, UEXKLL, UMWELT, WOLF ECOLOGY, WOLF MANAGEMENT
T U E S D A Y , 7 J U L Y 2 0 0 9
Climate change and the growth paradigm
Stephen Purdey (University of Toronto) has composed a short text addressing "the link
between science and society regarding climate change" (email distributed via the adaptation-
list for participants at the March 2009 Copenhagen climate conference). More specifically, he
writes about "The Growth Paradigm" (cf. his book Economic Growth, the Environment andInternational Relations, to be published in November by Routledge).
Excerpts:
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Mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change are important objectives, but
the biggest obstacle to achieving those objectives, and to successfully maintaining a
stable planetary climate, is the deep-seated commitment among policy-makers to
continuous economic growth.
... Continuous growth depends irrevocably on the continuous transformation and
consumption of energy. The socio-political commitment to unending economic growth
will inevitably overwhelm any effort to conserve energy, or to shift energy supplies from
carbon-based to renewable sources, and it is fundamentally incompatible with any
absolute reduction in the amount of energy consumed. Greenhouse gas emissions can be
significantly reduced per unit of economic production in the global economy, but if
production itself continues to increase, then those relative reductions will ultimately befutile.
... at its root, climate change is a socio-political, indeed a cultural issue and as such
requires from scientists a kind of social and moral awareness which often falls outside
their normal range of professional interests. ... Now scientists have the ... obligation of
pointing out that the core policy priority of governments around the world is at odds
with immutable physical laws which preclude unending economic growth.
And here's my response (sent to Purdey only):
Dear Stephen,
I do believe this is a very important point (see my article "The Statistician's Guide to
Utopia: The Future of Growth").
In this context I think it is further crucial to emphasize the shift in attention and
political priority that is going on today as part of the rising global awareness about
climate change, wherein climate issues tends to dominate and almost monopolize
environmental policies. Just think about energy: Even if we did manage to use only
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renewable energy etc., that energy consumption (and the economic activity that goes
along with it) would, within a paradigm if never-ending growth, be likely to have severe
environmental consequences; even it the climate problem was hypothetically solved
(which is in itself a totally unrealistic assumption, of course).
A further consequence of the prospect of continued growth is that policies increasinglydepend on high-tech solutions, which further commits us to a technologically dominated
society and in effect limits our range of policy options.
By the way, have you read "Surviving 1,000 centuries: Can we do it?" - A very informing
book about the physical limits of our long-term global activities.
Best,
(morten tnnessen)
Academic homepage: http://utopianrealism.blogspot.com
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:00 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: CL IMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, GROWTH, L IMITS TO GROWTH, PARADIGM,
PHYS ICAL REAL ITY, PURDEY, RENEWABLE ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY, TORONTO
W E D N E S D A Y , 2 4 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Defining biological meaning
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Here's my provisional definition of the concept of meaning within the life sciences (submitted
ahead of Gatherings in biosemiotics 9, to be arranged in Prague - where there will be an open
roundtable discussion on this very topic):
"It is the meaning-ful character of the encounter between physical, organic bodies and thematerial externalization of their life worlds that mediates between the inner and the outer,
the self and the world."
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:01 1 COMMENTS
S A T U R D A Y , 2 0 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Tolerant Tartu
I have joined the Tolerant Tartu Advocacy Network (Tolerantse Tartu eestkostevrgustik).
According to its mission statement, the network "support, enhance and promote societal,
cultural and scientific activities in Estonia, specifically in Tartu."
The general aim of the project Tolerant Tartu Advocacy Network" is to develop a model of
Tartu as a city of tolerance where people enjoy living together, regardless of their race,
ethnicity, religious beliefs, and other personal characteristics."
The project is funded by "Sihtasutus Kodanikuhiskonna Sihtkapital" (KSK) - The National
Foundation of Civil Society, and organized under Domus Dorpatensis. Events for the coming
year here.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 06:00 0 COMMENTS
T H U R S D A Y , 1 8 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Climate synthesis report
The synthesis report from the conference 'Climate Change: Global risks, challenges and
decisions' (Copenhagen, March 2009) has been published. It is written by Nicholas Stern,
Daniel M. Kammen, Katherine Richardson and nine others.
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It is based on the 16 plenary talks given at the Congress as well as input from over 80 chairs
and co-chairs of the 58 parallel sessions held at the Congress.
The preface refers to the proceedings, where my abstract 'The nature view held by
environmentalists: Attitudes in the Norwegian environmental establishment' is included,among 1,400 others. "Most of the approximately 2500 people attending the Congress were
researchers, many of whom have also been contributors to the IPCC reports. Participants
came from nearly 80 different countries" (I was there as the only representative from
Estonia).
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:39 0 COMMENTS
W E D N E S D A Y , 1 7 J U N E 2 0 0 9
10th World Congress of Semiotics - Big Bad Wolf accepted
I have been informed that my submission "The Changing Imagery of the Big Bad Wolf"
has been accepted for the 10th World Congress of Semiotics, to be arranged in A
Corua, Spain, September 22-26. My presentation will take place September 25th.
A written version, to be submitted to the congress proceedings, will be prepared
within October 15th.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 02:56 0 COMMENTS
T U E S D A Y , 1 6 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Academic news in brief III: Attested, revised, and wild
1. The annual attestation review for doctoral students at Department of Semiotics will
take place this Friday. Last Thursday I submitted my 6 pp. Attestation review for the
academic year 2008-2009 (with a 'Revised plan of study and research' for theacademic year 2009-2010 included).
2. The Journal of Environmental philosophy has responded to my submission 'Notes
toward a natural history of the phenomenal world', which they want me to re-submit
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in a partly rewritten form. I am currently studying the naturalization of
phenomenology.
3. The anthology now entitled 'Environment, embodiment and history', to be edited by
Johannes Servan (University of Bergen) and Ane Faugstad Aar (Hermes Text/UiB)
moves forward. Of 10 confirmed contributors so far, I am the most Junior one.
"The anthology will have a theoretical approach that is grounded in phenomenology,
but we welcome contributions from various theoretical schools that will address,
criticize or discuss the phenomenological tradition within the questions of
environment and embodiment."
My contribution might concern both the conception of an Uexkllian phenomenology
and my work with Scandinavian wolf management. The editors are further challenging
me to address the topic of 'wildness' in its relation to taming, control and domination.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 09:07 0 COMMENTS
M O N D A Y , 1 5 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Poster presentation in Tallinn in OctoberMy submission to the Tallinn October 22-24 conference 'Spatiality, memory and
visualisation of culture/nature relationships: theoretical aspects', 'Mapping Human
Impact: Ecological Footprint vs. Ontological Niche', has been accepted by the
organizing committee as a poster presentation.
In this presentation I will compare my ecosemiotic concept of a human
ontological niche with the concept of an ecological footprint, with respect to
how either of these can be applied as tools in mapping human impact in nature.
This will be my second poster presentation, following March's 'The nature view held by
environmentalists. Attitudes in the Norwegian environmental establishment'.
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POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 00:54 0 COMMENTS
T H U R S D A Y , 1 1 J U N E 2 0 0 9
Proceedings from World Congress, Helsinki/Imatra
The 9th IASS World Congress Proceedings is reported to be in preparation, and
expected to appear in July, as part of the publication series Acta Semiotica Fennica
(ASF). They will include my text 'Where I end and you begin: The threshold of the self
and the intrinsic value of the phenomenal world' (wherein my pointed critique of the
semioethics as phrased by Susan Petrilli appears).
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 06:27 0 COMMENTS
M O N D A Y , 8 J U N E 2 0 0 9
First ISI Web of Science publication
"The statistician's guide to Utopia: The future of growth" is listed as an ISI Web of
Science publication, since TRAMES is now indexed by them.
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 05:09 0 COMMENTS
W E D N E S D A Y , 3 J U N E 2 0 0 9
First semioethics interview
This Sunday I finished 'The Semioethics Interviews I: John Deely / 'Tell me, where is
morality bred?'" (31 pp. manuscript), submitted to Hortus Semioticus.
Contents:
A whole new beginning for ethics?
A call for moral treatment
Agents and their subjects (and their needs)
An explicit account of otherness (or: a pretty good reason for hitting someone)
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You may recognize otherness and still shoot the guy
Kalevi Kull on why good is to be done
Dog with puppies vs. mafia chieftain
Illegitimate semiosis
An animal nevertheless (a being of Gaia)
Becoming a semiotic animal
Semioethics: A household word
A revolutionary of sorts
POSTED BY MORTEN TNNESSEN AT 03:14 0 COMMENTS
My question to Umberto Eco on science and fiction
The University of Tartu has published a complete video of Umberto Eco's lecture in
Tartu May 6th, 'On the Ontology of Fictional Characters: a Semiotic Study'. My
question - and Eco's subsequent answer - is to be found in the interval 01:11:25 -
01:14:15.
The transcript reads:
MT My name is Morten Tnnessen, Im a PhD student at Department of
Semiotics. And you talked about the difference between physical existence and
fictional existence. And I would like you to say something about what role
fiction can be said to play within natural science, or applied science.
UE No... No, I missed ... the real question.
MT Let me finish. First, its obvious of course that imagination and creativity
are fundamental traits of humans in many walks of life. And often in applied
science, we start out with imagining something that does not exist its totally
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mind-dependent; and then we carry it into life. So it actually turns into
something with a physical existence. Isnt that the work of fiction?
UE No! I... Take, for instance the cold fusion. Typical example of a scientific
hoax. It was untrue. I dont say that fiction is mistake which is different.Ptolemy believed in good faith the Earth was still immobile, huh? and the Sun
turned. It was not making fiction it was committing a mistake. Simple and
believed. I say that there is fiction when the author pretends to say the truth,
and asks you to pretend that you are believing it. In this case you are in a
fictional world. If not, its a lie. If I tell you there is an elephant outside, and you
naively go out to see whether it is there or not, that is not a case of fiction, I am
only a damn liar, thats all. And you are too much naive, hehe. E