View source for Umwelt

{{short description|Biological foundations central to the study of communication and signification}}
{{Semiotics}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Uexkülls schema original.jpg|thumb|''"Early Scheme for a circular Feedback Circle"'' from Theoretische Biologie 1920]]
[[File:Uexkülls schemas small.jpg|thumb|Small circular Feedback Pictograms between the Text]]
[[Image:Uexküll wirkkreis.jpg|thumb|Schematic view of a cycle as an early biocyberneticist]]
In the [[biosemiotics|semiotic theories]] of [[Jakob von Uexküll]] and [[Thomas Sebeok]], '''''umwelt''''' (plural: umwelten; from the German ''[[wikt:Umwelt|Umwelt]]'' meaning "environment" or "surroundings") is the "biological foundations that lie at the very center of the study of both [[communication]] and [[Sign (semiotics)|signification]] in the human [and non-human] animal".<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas A. |last=Sebeok |title=Contributions to the Doctrine of Signs |location=Lisse, Netherlands |publisher=Peter de Ridder Press |year=1976 |chapter=Foreword |page=x |isbn=0-87750-194-7 }}</ref><!--The following reference seems to be incorrect, the phrase quoted comes up with a reference to Deely 2001.<ref>[[Jakob von Uexküll|Uexküll, Jakob von]] 1920, 1934/1957; cf. Lorenz, Konrad 1971 (Studies in animal behaviour, Vol 2. Cambridge MA: Harvard Univ. Press)</ref>-->{{Failed verification|date=May 2023}} The term is usually translated as "self-centered world".<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Kalevi Kull |last=Kull |first=Kalevi |year=2010 |chapter=Umwelt |editor-last=Cobley |editor-first=Paul |title=The Routledge Companion to Semiotics |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=348–349 |isbn=978-0-415-44072-1 }}</ref> Uexküll theorised that organisms can have different ''umwelten'', even though they share the same environment. The term ''umwelt'', together with companion terms ''Umgebung'' (an Umwelt as seen by another observer) and ''Innenwelt'' (the mapping of the self to the world of objects),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cobley|first1=Paul|title=The Routledge Companion to Semiotics|date=2010|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|page=348}}</ref> have special relevance for cognitive philosophers, roboticists and cyberneticians because they offer a potential solution to the conundrum of the [[infinite regress]] of the [[Cartesian theater|Cartesian Theater]].

==Discussion==

Each functional component of an ''umwelt'' has a [[Meaning (non-linguistic)|meaning]] that represents the organism's [[model (abstract)|model]] of the world. These functional components correspond approximately to perceptual features,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Treisman|first1=Anne M.|last2=Gelade|first2=Garry|title=A feature-integration theory of attention|journal=Cognitive Psychology|date=1980|volume=12|issue=1|pages=97–136|doi=10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5|pmid=7351125|s2cid=353246}}</ref> as described by [[Anne Treisman]]. It is also the [[semiotic]] world of the organism, including all the meaningful aspects of the world for any particular organism. It can be water, food, shelter, potential threats or points of reference for navigation. An organism creates and reshapes its own ''umwelt'' when it interacts with the world. This is termed a 'functional circle'. The ''umwelt'' theory states that the mind and the world are inseparable because it is the mind that interprets the world for the organism. Because of the individuality and uniqueness of the history of every single organism, the ''umwelten'' of different organisms differ. When two ''umwelten'' interact, this creates a [[semiosphere]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Thure von |last=Uexküll |year=1987 |chapter=The sign theory of Jakob von Uexküll |editor-last=Krampen |title=Classics of Semiotics |location=New York |publisher=Plenum |pages=147–179 |isbn=0-306-42321-9 |display-editors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jakob von |last=Uexküll |chapter=A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture Book of Invisible Worlds |title=Instinctive Behavior: The Development of a Modern Concept |url=https://archive.org/details/instinctivebehav0000schi |url-access=registration |editor-first=Claire H. |editor-last=Schiller |location=New York |publisher=International Universities Press |year=1957 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/instinctivebehav0000schi/page/5 5]– }}</ref>

As a term, ''umwelt'' also unites all the semiotic processes of an organism into a whole. Internally, an organism is the sum of its parts operating in functional circles and, to survive, all the parts must work cooperatively. This is termed the "collective ''umwelt''" which models the organism as a centralised system from the cellular level upward. This requires the [[semiosis]] of any one part to be continuously connected to any other semiosis operating within the same organism. If anything disrupts this process, the organism will not operate efficiently.

Uexküll's writings show a specific interest in the various worlds that he believed to exist ('conceptually') from the point of view of the ''umwelt'' of different creatures such as [[tick]]s, [[sea urchin]]s, [[amoebae]], [[jellyfish]], and [[sea worms]].

The [[biosemiotic]] turn in Jakob von Uexküll's analysis occurs in his discussion of the animal's relationship with its environment. The ''umwelt'' is for him an environment-world which is, according to [[Agamben]], ''"constituted by a more or less broad series of elements [called] 'carriers of significance' or 'marks' which are the only things that interest the animal"''. Agamben goes on to paraphrase Uexküll's example of the tick, saying:
<blockquote>
"...this eyeless animal finds the way to her watchpoint [at the top of a tall blade of grass] with the help of only its skin’s general sensitivity to light. The approach of her prey becomes apparent to this blind and deaf bandit only through her sense of smell. The odor of butyric acid, which emanates from the sebaceous follicles of all mammals, works on the tick as a signal that causes her to abandon her post (on top of the blade of grass/bush) and fall blindly downward toward her prey. If she is fortunate enough to fall on something warm (which she perceives by means of an organ sensible to a precise temperature) then she has attained her prey, the warm-blooded animal, and thereafter needs only the help of her sense of touch to find the least hairy spot possible and embed herself up to her head in the cutaneous tissue of her prey. She can now slowly suck up a stream of warm blood."<ref>{{Citation|title=The Open: Man and Animal|last=Agamben|first=Giorgio|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c68c/5a1ed53947bce2c992a780da24b6ab2a772e.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025225906/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c68c/5a1ed53947bce2c992a780da24b6ab2a772e.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-10-25|page=46|s2cid=141790408}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Thus, for the tick, the ''umwelt'' is reduced to only three (biosemiotic) carriers of significance: (1) the [[odor]] of [[butyric acid]], which emanates from the [[sebaceous]] follicles of all mammals; (2) the [[temperature]] of 37°C (corresponding to the [[blood]] of all mammals); and (3) the hairy topography of mammals.

==Critics==
Uexküll's application of the notion of "umwelt" to the human person has been contested. In "Welt und Umwelt"<ref>Joseph Piepers, “Welt und Umwelt,” in Schriften zur Philosophischen Anthropologie und Ethik: Grundstrukturen menschlicher Existenz, 180–206.</ref> and "Die Wahrheit der Dinge", the philosopher and sociologist [[Josef Pieper]] argued that reason allows the human person to live in "Welt" (world) while plants and animals do indeed live in an Umwelt—a notion he traces back far beyond Uexküll to [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], and [[Thomas Aquinas]].

==See also==
*{{annotated link|Cognized environment}}
*{{annotated link|Existential therapy}}
*{{annotated link|Phenomenology (philosophy)|Phenomenology}}
*{{annotated link|Qualia}}
*{{annotated link|Reality tunnel}}
*{{annotated link|Worldview|aka=Weltanschauung}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last=Kull |first=Kalevi |title=On Semiosis, Umwelt, and Semiosphere | url = https://www.academia.edu/38612077 | journal=Semiotica |volume=120 |issue=3/4 |pages=299–310 |year=1998 }} 
* ''Naming Nature'' by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
* {{cite journal | last1 = Augustin | first1 = Prisca | year = 2009 | title = Translating Jakob von Uexküll — Reframing Umweltlehre as biosemiotics | url = http://sss.ut.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/SSS.2009.37.1-2.10 | journal = [[Sign Systems Studies]] | volume = 37 | issue = 1/2| pages = 281–298 | doi = 10.12697/SSS.2009.37.1-2.10 | doi-access = free }}
* ''View from the Oak'' by Herbert and Judith Kohl The New Press | https://thenewpress.com/books/view-from-oak
* ''Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know'' by Alexandra Horowitz Scribner | https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Inside-of-a-Dog/Alexandra-Horowitz/9781416583431
* ''An Immense World'' by Ed Yong Penguin books Vintage | https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/440513/an-immense-world-by-yong-ed/9781847926081

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060221134707/http://www.ut.ee/SOSE/deely.htm Umwelt] by [[John Deely]]
*[https://www.academia.edu/6227366/The_Role_of_Umwelt_in_Husserls_Aufbau_and_Abbau_of_the_Natur_Geist_Distinction Umwelt and Phenomenology] 
*[http://www.zbi.ee/~kalevi/jesphohp.htm Umwelt and semiosphere] by [[Kalevi Kull]]
*[http://alexei.nfshost.com/biosem/txt/umwelt.html Pragmatism and Umwelt-theory] by Alexei Sharov
*[http://www.tde-r.webs.com/critiqueofcogsci.htm TDE-R - A Subjective Biocomputer] by Charles Dyer

{{Neuroethology}}
{{World view}}

[[Category:Semiotics]]
[[Category:Neuroethology concepts]]
[[Category:Existential therapy]]