Taarapita - saarlaste suur jumal

Taarapita is a god known to us already from the 13th century Estonian chronicles. In different versions of the chronicle, the name is written differently: Tharapita, Tarapitha, Tharaphitam, etc. - leading to the conclusion that the name Taarapita is the most suitable for use in Estonian. The name has been interpreted as a shout "Taara, help!", or "Taara's flash". Today, Taarapita is often either misinterpreted (e.g. `owl god') or considered a minor god in the Slavic pantheon. Linguistically, it can be proved that Taarapita is not a Slavic loan. For a fact, in the 12th century on Rügen Island there was a monument erected for the great god of the inhabitants of Saaremaa. The ancient Scandinavian god name þórr has a clear consonant at the end, making it rather identical with the German thunder god Donar and thus also clearly not a loan from Baltic-Finnic languages. However, the Turupið in Knytlingasaga is definitely the Estonian Taarapita. Analysing the two parts of the name - taara and pita - while also considering kindred languages results in the interpretation of the name Taarapita as "Taara (is) great " or Taara-great. Taara itself, however, could be a loan from the name of the Scandinavian thunder god þórr

DEEP CONCEPTUAL MORAL DISAGREEMENTS : OVER WHAT DO WE DISAGREE AND WHY?

We frequently find ourselves in intractable disagreements about the morality of abortion euthanasia, restrictions to freedom, or eating meat for fun. An adequate reaction to a disagreement requires knowing which type of disagreements we arc confronted with. The main aim of my paper is to explain the source of moral disagreements and clarify their nature. I will argue that some moral disagreements are deep conceptual disagreements that similarly to disagreements in logic or ontology, are not resolvable, as the resolution of the disagreement requires the disputants to adopt perspectives that are conceptually unavailable to them. I will suggest four possible sources of moral disagreements: incommensurable fundamental values, different concepts of the good life, different motivating reasons and different concepts of morality.Peer reviewe

Livonian landscapes in the historical geography of Livonia and the division of Livonian tribes

There is no exact consensus on the division and sub-division of the former Livonian territories at the end of the ancient independence period in the 12th century. Even the question of the Coastal Livonians in Courland – were they an indigenous Livonian tribe or a replaced eastern Livonian tribe – remains unsolved. In this paper the anonymously published treatise on the historical geography of Livonia by Johann Christoph Schwartz (1792) will be analysed and compared with the historical modern views. There is an agreement on the division of the Eastern Livonian territories into four counties: Daugava, Gauja, Metsepole, and Idumea. Idumea had a mixed Livonian-Baltic population. There is no consensus on the parochial sub-division of these counties.Kokkuvõte. Urmas Sutrop: Liivi maastikud Liivimaa ajaloolises geograafias ja liivi hõimude jaotus. Tänapäeval puudub täielik konsensus, kuidas liivlaste territoorium jagunes muinasmaakondadeks ja/või -kihelkondadeks muistse iseseisvuse lõpul 12. sajandil. Lahendamata on isegi küsimus sellest, kas Kuramaa rannaliivlased on muistsete liivlaste või sinna 16. sajandil ümber asunud liivlaste järeltulijad. Käesolevas artiklis vaadeldakse 1792. aastal Johann Christoph Schwartzi anonüümselt ilmunud käsitlust Liivimaa ajaloolisest geograafiast ning võrreldakse seda tollaste ja tänapäevaste arusaamadega. Kokkulepe teadlaste vahel on üldisem idapoolsete liivlaste territoriaalses suurjaotuses: Väina jõe liivlase alad, Koiva jõe liivlaste alad, Metsapoole ja Idumea. Neist viimast peetakse liivlaste ja balti hõimude segaalaks. Samas puudub konsensus nende liivi maakondlike alade edasisest kihelkondlikust jaotusest.Märksõnad: Johann Christoph Schwartz, ajalooline geograafia, liivi hõimud, LiivimaaKubbõvõttõks. Urmas Sutrop:Līvõ mōpālgõd Līvõmō istōrilis geogrāfijs. Tämpõ tuņšlijid äb ūotõ īdmēļizt, kui līvlizt terītori vȯļ jagdõd muinižiz mōgõniž ja/agā pagāstõdõksks muiniz īžpīlimiz lopāndõksõs 12. āigastsadā āigal. Äb ūo arāntõt, või Kurāmǭ līvlizt ātõ muinizt līvlizt tagāntuļļid agā 16. āigastsadā āigal sīņõ lǟnõd līvlizt tagāntuļļid. Sīes kēras um vaņţõltõd 1792. āigastõs ulztund Johann Christoph Schwartz tuņšlõkst iļ Līvõmǭ istōriliz geogrāfij (ulzõtuldsõ se tuņšlõks vȯļ anonīmi). Siedā um ītõltõd sīeaigizt ja paldīņizt arusǭmiztõks. Tuņšlijid ātõ dižānist īdmēļizt mǭgõrpūoļizt līvlizt teritorij jagdõksõs: Vēna joug līvlizt mō, Koiva joug līvlizt mōd, Mõtsāpūol ja Idūmō. Idumō um mō, kus um līvlizt ja baltõd sugūd jelīzt siegāmõl. Īdmīel äb ūo, kui mōgõnd jagīzt kīlgõniž

Using the Teachers’ Values Game to facilitate teachers’ reflection on their own values

At present, teacher education is focused on giving future teachers in-depth knowledge of the subject matter they are going to teach, while far less emphasis is placed on preparing them for their role as values educators. As students learn many important values through interaction with teachers, it is important that teachers start reflecting on their values and notice that values can be transmitted not only through subjects which deal overtly with moral content, but also through teachers’ conduct and a school’s overall functioning. In order to urge students to reflect on and discuss their values, the teacher must first acquire the same skills. In this paper I shall ask what universities should do to better prepare future teachers for their role as values educators. I will also show how a methodological tool – the Teachers’ Values Game – based on group discussions of moral dilemmas inherent in practical examples collected from real life, can help teachers to get to know their values and bring their behaviour in line with their own and their school’s shared values. Keywords: ethical teacher; ethics in teaching; moral dilemma; value; teacher education; values education; values game; values clarification; character education; virtues, principles

What is Estonian Philosophy?

The purpose of this article is to inquire what should belong in an encyclopedia article entitled "Estonian philosophy," should one ever endeavour to write it. The question "What is Estonian philosophy?" has two parts. First we have to know what we mean by the concept philosophy and after that how we would specify Estonian philosophy? Relying on a Wittgensteinian approach, I will argue that philosophy is an open concept. Although all philosophical works have some resemblances to other philosophical works, it is impossible to find criteria characteristic of all the varieties of schools and traditions in which philosophizing is carried out. Philosophy should be understood as a certain social practice. There can, however, be a large number of different practices. I will show that if by Estonian philosophy we have in mind a philosophy that is originally and purely Estonian, then at this point such does not exist. If by Estonian philosophy we mean philosophy created in Estonia, regardless of the practitioners' ethnicity and the language in which they wrote, the history of our philosophy is very rich and diverse. People of many different ethnicities have created philosophy in Estonia, articulating their philosophical ideas in Estonian, English, German, Latin, Russian, and Swedish. And if we broaden our concept of Estonian philosophy to also include the work of philosophers of Estonian extraction living abroad, then one could write quite a respectable article on the topic

Estonian traces in the tree of life concept and in the language family tree theory

In this paper the tree model – a well-formed tree is shortly described. After that the language family tree model by August Schleicher is treated and compared with the Charles Darwin’s tree of life diagram and metaphor. The development of the idea of the linguistic trees and the tree of life is considered historically. Earlier models – scala naturae – and tree models, both well-formed and not-well-formed are introduced. Special attention is paid to the scholars connected to Estonia who developed the idea of tree models: Georg Stiernhielm was the first who pictured a language tree already in 1671; Karl Eduard Eichwald published an early tree of animal life in 1829; and Karl Ernst von Baer influenced the tree of  life models and diagrams of Charles Darwin

Basic colour terms in five Finno-Ugric languages and Estonian Sign Language: a comparative study

In this paper we compare five Finno-Ugric languages – Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Udmurt and Komi-Zyrian – and the Estonian Sign Language (unclassified) in different aspects: established basic colour terms, the proportion of basic colour terms and different colour terms in the collected word-corpora, the cognitive salience index values in the list task and the number of dominant colour tiles in the colour naming task. The data was collected, using the field method of Davies and Corbett, from all languages under consideration, providing a distinctive foundation for linguistic comparison. We argue that Finno-Ugric languages seem to possess relatively large colour vocabularies, especially due to their rich variety of word-formation types, e.g. the composition of compound words. All of the languages under consideration have developed to Stage VI or VII, possessing 7 to 11 lexicalised basic colour terms. The cognitive salience index helps to distinguish primary and secondary basic colour terms, showing certain comprehensive patterns which are similar to Russian and English

Development and piloting of a micro-credential programme in research ethics and integrity leadership – an example from Estonia

[EN] Micro-credentials are an emerging format of lifelong learning supporting competence-development as well as deepening knowledge in the field. Still, there is little research on implementing and sustaining micro-credentials in higher education. The current paper aims to share experiences of development and piloting of a micro-credential programme for a specific target group in Estonia. The criteria for setting up a micro-credential programme as well as initial lessons learned are outlined. Experience indicates that it takes some time and sharing best practices to develop the programmes into a feasible form of education. In case a programme is developed for a very specific target group and no degree programme exists in the field, several tailor-made solutions must be invented. By sharing best practices, developing and testing new formats will make micro-credential programmes more effective.Research is supported by the University of Tartu development fund for creating microdegrees and the University of Tartu support for implementing research integrity at the university.Tammeleht, A.; Rajando, K.; Sutrop, M. (2023). Development and piloting of a micro-credential programme in research ethics and integrity leadership – an example from Estonia. En 9th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'23). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 733-740. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd23.2023.1622073374

Värvinimed ja värvid vendade Grimmide muinasjutu “Lumivalguke” variantides

The article discusses three versions of the Snow White fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm (1810, 1812, and 1857), delving into the meanings of colours and colour names occurring in them as well as changes in the names and meanings. The analysis proceeds from the structural method of fairy tale study and explores the symbolic meaning oppositions of colours and their names, such as in/out, light/dark, life/death, logical/mythological. The analysis is also based on the differentiation drawing on the theory of primary colours, according to which black, white, and red are the most fundamental colour names. However, the use of colour names (semantics and symbolism) is complicated in the versions of the Snow White fairy tale, as a colour may have several oppositional meanings. It is not just simple binary oppositions. The Brothers Grimm regarded the colours black, white, and red as beautiful. Jacob Grimm depicted them as the three colours of poetry