Tõe ja vale vahel. Arusaamatuse epistemoloogia

Essees põhjendan kolme teesi. (1) Lihtsatele küsimustele tõest—nt mis on tõde või mida tähendab millegi tõesus? — ei ole lihtne vastata. Tõde on keerukas mõiste nii teoreetiliselt kui ka praktiliselt. Filosoofiliste tõeteooriate paljusus on üks paljude tegurite hulgas, mis tekitavad segadust tõe küsimuses. (2) Enamik vestlustes ja arutlustes kasutavatest lausetest ei ole sellised, mille kohta saaks öelda „tõene“ või „väär“ (ja muid võimalusi pole). Praktiliste vestluslausete hulgas moodustavad mustvalge tõeväärtusega laused vähemuse. Neid ümbritseb suur hulk mitte-singulaarseid ja mitte-primitiivseid lauseid: esiteks, enamasti on lihtväited kombineeritud omavahel, ja teiseks, sageli on lihtväited kombineeritud modaalsete ja normatiivsete lausetega. Ometi kiputakse ka selliselt keerukaid lauseid hindama lihtsa mustvalge mõõdupuuga. (3) Eelmisega seoses — esineb suur hulk tõe küsimuses segaduse tekitajaid, mida vestlejad oskamatuse või tähelepanematuse tõttu eiravad. Taolistest teguritest vaatlen lähemalt: (a) konteksti, mis „tõe tegijana“ nõuab vestlejatelt taustateadmisi või täiendavat süvenemist; (b) tunnistust ja kuuldust, mis vahendatud (propositsioonilise) teadmisena evib ridamisi (inimlikke) veatekitajaid; (c) episteemiliste seisundite „maatriksit“, mis kolmevalentset tõeväärtust doksastilistiliste uskumishoiakutega kombineerides käsitab ligi paarikümmet episteemilist seisundit. Episteemilised veatekitajad on „väljaspool lauseid“: inimese ja elamismaailma suhete iseloomus. Tõe(suse) probleemidel on kaks triviaalset allikat: (a) inimese tunnetuslikud, sh tõendamise võimed on piiratud; (b) maailma „tõendite salvestamise võimed“ on piiratud. Vestlustes põhjustavad ülalmainitud tegurid vigu kahel üldisel põhjusel. Esiteks, vestlejad asuvad lause tõeväärtust hindama enne, kui nad on aru saanud või välja selgitanud, mida lause (antud kontekstis) tähendab või mida kõneleja sellega öelda tahab. Teiseks, vestlejad ei mõista või eiravad modaalsusi ja allikaviiteid, mistõttu ei hooma otsese ja kaudse kõne mõju kõneluse tõeväärtusele. Lõpetuseks pakun välja üheksa filosoofilis-praktilist soovitust, mis võiksid hõlbustada hakkamasaamist tõe (või „tõe“) keerukustega. The article defends three theses. (1) The simple question of truth - e.g. what is truth or what does it mean for something to be true? - does not have a simple answer. Truth is a complex concept, both theoretically and practically. The multiplicity of philosophical theories of truth is one factor among others which leads to confusion regarding the question of truth. (2) Most sentences we use in our conversations and discussions are not such that we could say they are either 'true' or 'false' (and no other possiblity exists). Among practical conversational sentences, sentences with two possible truth value are a minority. They are surrounded by a large set of non-singular and non-primitive sentences: first, usually simple statements are combined with each other; second, simple statements are combined with modal and normative statements. Still people tend to evaluate even those more complex sentences as if they were simply true or false. (3) Related to the second thesis---there is a large number of factors which create confusion when it comes to truth but owing to ignorance and inattention, they are ignored. From these factors, I will focus upon: (a) context, which, as a "truth-maker", requires background knowledge from interlocutors or digging a little deeper; (b) testimony and hearsay, which, as mediated (propositional) knowledge, have numerous (human) error-makers; (c) a "matrix" of epistemic states, which by combining three-valued truth with doxastic attitudes includes tens of epistemic states. Epistemic error-makers are "outside the sentence": in the character of the relationship between humans and their lifeworld. The problems of truth have two trivial sources: (a) the cognitive abilities of humans, which include the ability to prove, are limited; (b) the ability of the world to "save evidence" is limited. These factors cause errors in conversations for two general reasons. First, interlocutors start evaluating the truth of a sentence before they have understood or made sense of what does this sentence means (in the given context) or what the utterer wanted to say. Second, interlocutors do not understand or ignore modality and references to sources, which in turn leads them to overlook the impact direct and indirect speech have on the truth value of a conversation. Finally I will propose nine philosophical-practical suggestions which could make it easier to cope with the complexities of truth

Water-level changes and palaeogeography of proglacial lakes in eastern Estonia: synthesis of data from the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area

We studied the water-level changes and palaeogeography of Late Weichselian proglacial lakes in eastern Estonia using the shoreline and sediment distribution proxies from the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area together with the geomorphological correlation and GIS-based palaeoreconstructions. Our results show that about 14.0-13.8 cal. kyr BP Glacial Lake Peipsi inundated large areas of the Saadjärve Drumlin Field, Emajõgi River valley and reached the Lake Võrtsjärv basin. In the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area this is reflected in the formation of the highest shoreline and the corresponding rather short period (up to 63 years) of varved clay accumulation. The highest shoreline determined in the Saadjärve Drumlin Field is correlated with the valley terraces in southeastern Estonia, which reflect the water level in Glacial Lake Peipsi and the proglacial lake in the Võrtsjärv basin. The study suggests settling of glacial varved clay in the deepest inter-drumlin basins at the critical (minimal) water depths of about 15-20 m. The proglacial conditions lasted in the Saadjärve Drumlin Field for about 150 years and were interrupted due to the isolation of the lakes from proglacial bodies of water in the Peipsi and Võrtsjärv basins after the formation of the second highest shoreline. In the bottom sediments this isolation is marked by the transition from the laminated sediments to the massive silt interval. The results show that about 14.0-13.8 cal. kyr BP the connection route between Glacial Lake Peipsi and proglacial Lake Strenči, northern Latvia, shifted from the Võhandu-Hargla valley to the Väike-Emajõgi valley and the strait between Glacial Lake Peipsi and large Lake Privalday in northwestern Russia was closed

Tõe ja vale vahel. Arusaamatuse epistemoloogia

Essees põhjendan kolme teesi. (1) Lihtsatele küsimustele tõest—nt mis on tõde või mida tähendab millegi tõesus? — ei ole lihtne vastata. Tõde on keerukas mõiste nii teoreetiliselt kui ka praktiliselt. Filosoofiliste tõeteooriate paljusus on üks paljude tegurite hulgas, mis tekitavad segadust tõe küsimuses. (2) Enamik vestlustes ja arutlustes kasutavatest lausetest ei ole sellised, mille kohta saaks öelda „tõene“ või „väär“ (ja muid võimalusi pole). Praktiliste vestluslausete hulgas moodustavad mustvalge tõeväärtusega laused vähemuse. Neid ümbritseb suur hulk mitte-singulaarseid ja mitte-primitiivseid lauseid: esiteks, enamasti on lihtväited kombineeritud omavahel, ja teiseks, sageli on lihtväited kombineeritud modaalsete ja normatiivsete lausetega. Ometi kiputakse ka selliselt keerukaid lauseid hindama lihtsa mustvalge mõõdupuuga. (3) Eelmisega seoses — esineb suur hulk tõe küsimuses segaduse tekitajaid, mida vestlejad oskamatuse või tähelepanematuse tõttu eiravad. Taolistest teguritest vaatlen lähemalt: (a) konteksti, mis „tõe tegijana“ nõuab vestlejatelt taustateadmisi või täiendavat süvenemist; (b) tunnistust ja kuuldust, mis vahendatud (propositsioonilise) teadmisena evib ridamisi (inimlikke) veatekitajaid; (c) episteemiliste seisundite „maatriksit“, mis kolmevalentset tõeväärtust doksastilistiliste uskumishoiakutega kombineerides käsitab ligi paarikümmet episteemilist seisundit. Episteemilised veatekitajad on „väljaspool lauseid“: inimese ja elamismaailma suhete iseloomus. Tõe(suse) probleemidel on kaks triviaalset allikat: (a) inimese tunnetuslikud, sh tõendamise võimed on piiratud; (b) maailma „tõendite salvestamise võimed“ on piiratud. Vestlustes põhjustavad ülalmainitud tegurid vigu kahel üldisel põhjusel. Esiteks, vestlejad asuvad lause tõeväärtust hindama enne, kui nad on aru saanud või välja selgitanud, mida lause (antud kontekstis) tähendab või mida kõneleja sellega öelda tahab. Teiseks, vestlejad ei mõista või eiravad modaalsusi ja allikaviiteid, mistõttu ei hooma otsese ja kaudse kõne mõju kõneluse tõeväärtusele. Lõpetuseks pakun välja üheksa filosoofilis-praktilist soovitust, mis võiksid hõlbustada hakkamasaamist tõe (või „tõe“) keerukustega. The article defends three theses. (1) The simple question of truth - e.g. what is truth or what does it mean for something to be true? - does not have a simple answer. Truth is a complex concept, both theoretically and practically. The multiplicity of philosophical theories of truth is one factor among others which leads to confusion regarding the question of truth. (2) Most sentences we use in our conversations and discussions are not such that we could say they are either 'true' or 'false' (and no other possiblity exists). Among practical conversational sentences, sentences with two possible truth value are a minority. They are surrounded by a large set of non-singular and non-primitive sentences: first, usually simple statements are combined with each other; second, simple statements are combined with modal and normative statements. Still people tend to evaluate even those more complex sentences as if they were simply true or false. (3) Related to the second thesis---there is a large number of factors which create confusion when it comes to truth but owing to ignorance and inattention, they are ignored. From these factors, I will focus upon: (a) context, which, as a "truth-maker", requires background knowledge from interlocutors or digging a little deeper; (b) testimony and hearsay, which, as mediated (propositional) knowledge, have numerous (human) error-makers; (c) a "matrix" of epistemic states, which by combining three-valued truth with doxastic attitudes includes tens of epistemic states. Epistemic error-makers are "outside the sentence": in the character of the relationship between humans and their lifeworld. The problems of truth have two trivial sources: (a) the cognitive abilities of humans, which include the ability to prove, are limited; (b) the ability of the world to "save evidence" is limited. These factors cause errors in conversations for two general reasons. First, interlocutors start evaluating the truth of a sentence before they have understood or made sense of what does this sentence means (in the given context) or what the utterer wanted to say. Second, interlocutors do not understand or ignore modality and references to sources, which in turn leads them to overlook the impact direct and indirect speech have on the truth value of a conversation. Finally I will propose nine philosophical-practical suggestions which could make it easier to cope with the complexities of truth

Comparing contemporaneous hunter-gatherer and early agrarian settlement systems with spatial point process models: Case study of the Estonian Stone Age

peer reviewedInductive locational models have been used for decades to map the probability of past settlements and identify the preferred environmental conditions for habitation. In this study we apply inductive modelling to compare the spatial structure of the settlement systems of hunter-fisher-gatherer groups (Narva and Combed Ware Culture) and early agrarian communities (Corded Ware Culture) in Stone Age Estonia. We conceptualise settlement system formation as a point process and develop a first order point process model representing the environmental suitability for habitation based on geomorphological, soil and proximity to water. We use MaxEnt and the SDMTune machine learning framework for building the model, variable selection and estimation. The model is applied to the two communities and the effects of the variables and the resulting spatial patterns compared. The statistical analysis indicated higher predictive power for hunter-fisher-gatherer sites, which might result from higher variety of agrarian activities, different socio-economic organization or effects of spatial structure of the landscape. The spatial comparison indicates significant differences between the suitable environments for habitation between the two groups. While the hunter-fisher-gatherer population had an entirely shoreline connected settlement system the Corded Ware people inhabited the areas further away from water bodies. This resulted in significantly expanded potential space with differing spatial configuration for the incoming agrarian groups, possibly allowing tolerated immigration. The results also indicate there was a certain overlap of areas considered suitable habitation by both cultural groups, which might have caused a competition for land

STUDY OF PALEOGEOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE KARELIAN ISTHMUS DURING THE HOLOCENE

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Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter–gatherers

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, such as the production of resins. We attribute the emergence of these subregional cuisines to the diffusion of new culinary ideas afforded by the adoption of pottery, e.g. cooking and combining foods, but culturally contextualized and influenced by traditional practices

Palaeoclimate inferred from δ18O and palaeobotanical indicators in freshwater tufa of Lake Äntu Sinijärv, Estonia

We investigated a 3.75-m-long lacustrine sediment record from Lake Äntu Sinijärv, northern Estonia, which has a modeled basal age >12,800 cal yr BP. Our multi-proxy approach focused on the stable oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) of freshwater tufa. Our new palaeoclimate information for the Eastern Baltic region, based on high-resolution δ18O data (219 samples), is supported by pollen and plant macrofossil data. Radiocarbon dates were used to develop a core chronology and estimate sedimentation rates. Freshwater tufa precipitation started ca. 10,700 cal yr BP, ca. 2,000 years later than suggested by previous studies on the same lake. Younger Dryas cooling is documented clearly in Lake Äntu Sinijärv sediments by abrupt appearance of diagnostic pollen (Betula nana, Dryas octopetala), highest mineral matter content in sediments (up to 90 %) and low values of δ18O (less than −12 ‰). Globally recognized 9.3- and 8.2-ka cold events are weakly defined by negative shifts in δ18O values, to −11.3 and −11.7 ‰, respectively, and low concentrations of herb pollen and charcoal particles. The Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) is palaeobotanically well documented by the first appearance and establishment of nemoral thermophilous taxa and presence of water lilies requiring warm conditions. Isotope values show an increasing trend during the HTM, from −11.5 to −10.5 ‰. Relatively stable environmental conditions, represented by only a small-scale increase in δ18O (up to 1 ‰) and high pollen concentrations between 5,000 and 3,000 cal yr BP, were followed by a decrease in δ18O, reaching the most negative value (−12.7 ‰) recorded in the freshwater tufa ca. 900 cal yr BP

A drowned Mesolithic shell midden complex at Hjarnø Vesterhoved,Denmark and its wider significance

Anthropogenic shell accumulations (shell middens), often of great size, occur in their tens of thousands around the world’s coastlines. They mostly date from the Mid-Holocene onwards and are frequently taken as symptomatic of a Postglacial ‘revolution’ involving world-wide population growth and intensification in exploitation of marine resources. However, the comparative rarity of earlier deposits may have as much to do with Postglacial sea-level rise and the loss of evidence from earlier palaeoshorelines as with genuine socio-economic trends. Here we investigate the underwater Mesolithic (Ertebølle) shellmidden of Hjarnø Vesterhoved in Denmark, one of the first underwater shell middens to be systematically verified as an anthropogenic shell deposit in a region world-famous for its many hundreds of Ertebølle shell mounds on the present shoreline. We show how a combination of geophysical survey, coring, excavation, stratigraphic interpretation and macroscopic analysis of midden contents can be used to identify underwater deposits, to unravel their taphonomic and post-depositional history in relation to surrounding sediments, and to distinguish between cultural and natural agencies of shell accumulation and deformation. We demonstrate the presence of an intact underwater shell-midden deposit dated at 5400–5100 cal BC, one of the earliest in Denmark. We demonstrate the usefulness of such material in giving new information about early coastal subsistence economies and greater precision to the measurement of palaeosea levels. We discuss the implications of our results for an improved understanding of the Mesolithic record in Denmark and of biases in the archaeological record of Late Pleistocene and Early-to-Mid-Holocene coastal contexts. We emphasise the importance of researching more fully the geomorphological and taphonomic processes that affect the accumulation, destruction, burial, preservation and visibility of underwater archaeological deposits, the need to extend underwater investigations more widely and to more deeply submerged palaeoshorelines, and the combination of methods required to advance such investigations

The General Data Protection Regulation and its Violation of EU Treaties

While the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which entered force on 25 May, is generally good and necessary in its vigorous protection of the fundamental rights of self‑determination and identity of European people, the article identifies a core issue that has gone unnoticed: the GDPR violates EU treaties. It is, at base, a ‘European law’, yet European laws are banned under the TEU and TFEU. The article examines the background for this conflict. The ambitious plan for ratification of 2003’s draft treaty establishing a constitution for Europe fell at the first hurdle in 2005. The draft Constitution envisaged a legislative innovation: the European law and European framework law, directly applicable in the Member States and superior to them. These legal instruments, envisaged as replacing EU regulations, could readily be cited as a major federalist pillar of the draft. Yet there would be no European laws – they were rejected with the draft constitution in the 2005 referenda, and the current treaties do not foresee any law-like European legislation. The author outlines the GDPR’s nature as a European law thus: the regulation 1) potentially concerns all residents of Europe, albeit by adding to the rights of individuals and protecting their freedoms; 2) addresses virtually all legal entities and undertakings acting, physically or through a network, in the European judicial area; 3) addresses the Member States and the EU itself; 4) and has cross-border applicability and covers the whole EU. Furthermore, its reach extends to service providers outside the EU if their service targets EU data subjects. There are substantial impacts on subjects on whom obligations are substantial. Hence, the author concludes that the GDPR’s scope, depth, and impacts exceed all the limits that the EU treaties permit for regulations. Furthermore, the treaties do not even know the term ‘general regulation’. Since the GDPR possesses the characteristics of a ‘European law’ – and even is ‘seamlessly’ positioned in a place reserved by the draft EU Constitution for the ‘European law on data protection’ – while such laws have been rejected, a key issue is highlighted: how deep an EU-level political integration and relinquishment of the individual European nations’ sovereignty do the Member States actually want? For instance, most analyses of the causes of Brexit cite loss of sovereignty of the UK as one of the main factors in the decision. The author concludes that, since the GDPR is with us to stay, amendment of the EU treaties can no longer be avoided. Noble objectives cannot justify infringements of the present ‘European Constitution’ and the constitutions of the Member States