Ene-Margit Tiit
On Estonia's population in the early years of the twenty first century
In the demographic development of Europe, a small shift happens in 2005, which is marked by improvement in the population reproduction process – total fertility rate increased in three quarters of the countries of the European Union, although its average was still under three quarters of reproduction level. Traditional values are being recognized again – the average marriage coefficient has increased somewhat; in some countries the proportion of non-marital births has decreased. A great part of Eastern European countries passed the lowest point in their demographic development in 2003-2004 and have turned to stable development. Estonia was one of the first countries that experienced the transition shock and also one of the first that turned to positive development. Fertility indicators stabilized as early as in 1998; in the present century the summary birth coefficient has increased considerably, reaching 1.64 in 2007, which is the highest for the decade and also higher than the European average. The age of women giving birth is also increasing, which, although posing certain risks, is in agreement with general tendencies in Western Europe. There have been other positive shifts in demographic processes – marriage rate and the number of marital births have increased, the number of divorces and fatherless children have decreased. Against the background of the general rise in employment and educational level, it is expectable that among the women giving birth the proportion of those with higher education or being in employment have increased. The number of abortions as well as their proportion to births has decreased. Still the number of abortions cannot be considered sufficiently low. Infant mortality in 2006 was at an all-time low in Estonia, although still higher than in Western European countries. Mortality indicators in Estonia were still among the worst in Europe, although in recent years life expectancy of men as well as women has increased, unfortunately still slowly and unevenly. In 2006, men's average life expectancy at birth increased only by a month, and in 2007 it even decreased by two months. Women's average life expectancy is increasing by three months in a year on the average. In 2007, the decrease in population still continued because of negative natural increase, and the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 1634. In the nine months of 2008, compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of deaths decreased by nearly 300 and the number of births increased by 550; thus, the positive demographic development is continuing. The demographic behaviour of residents of Estonia is also influenced by their ethnic origin – the average birth rate of ethnic Estonians is somewhat higher and death rate somewhat lower than that of other ethnicities. According to the most recent population projection, officially presented by the UN European Economic Commission early in 2007, the population of Estonia by 2050 should be 1.12 million. One of the problems in Estonia is the lack of data on foreign migration over several years after the 2000 census. In recent years, the registration of migration (particularly of immigration) seems to have improved, and the present overview provides an analysis of migration indicators officially registered in the population register over 20 months (1 January 2006 – 31 August 2007). During the whole period of observation, registered emigration exceeded immigration nearly twice, but in 2007, when the rules for registration of immigrants toughened, emigration exceeded immigration by only 28 per cent. Among emigrants, citizens of Estonia comprise more than 90 per cent, and the main target country is Finland. The majority of emigrants are women in fertile age (20-39). Women's migration activity is higher than that of men in nearly all age groups.

The greatest problems in Estonia's demographic development in 2007: Birth rate, although having increased, still comprises only 78 per cent of the reproduction level; very low and slowly increasing average life expectancy, particularly in non-Estonian men; intensive emigration of young people, particularly of women, and a negative migration balance.


Rein Veidemann
Spring by Oskar Luts and the ecumenical structure of Estonian culture
The article aims at concentrating on such a "nesting place" of Estonian culture where different parts of culture (which are mostly based on different sign systems) meet, intersect and manifest their, so to say, substantial identity, having become proper names for Estonians. I call the common layer that penetrates the component texts of culture (from folklore through literature to music, education, theatre and culture of everyday life) the ecumenical structure of culture (a structure aimed at becoming aware of the whole).

This ecumenical structure of culture becomes visible at some real or mental locations or in repeated cultural events (rituals, customs, traditions). One of the most typical mechanisms of emergence of the ecumenical structure consists in the following: the writer writes a text (a story, a novel or a poem) related to his place of residence or his memories; it will be amplified by a dramatization, a film, a television play or music. This amplification creates a new unity, which begins to represent culture as a whole, becoming one of its "proper names" (in Estonian culture, e.g. Mahtra, Vargamäe, Palamuse, Kurgja – places where well-known writers or social figures have lived or the events in their books have taken place).

Ecumenical structures can manifest the deep unity of culture (like, e.g. national self-mythology); on the other hand, they make can smooth out or level off individual differences, which results, for example, in stereotypes of one or another culture as used in mass culture.

A concrete example of the emergence of an ecumenical structure, the article analyzes in detail the phenomenon of Oskar Luts' novel Spring (Kevade, 1912, 1913). Estonian literary scholars unanimously consider Luts' Spring a myth-creating text. The literary work – which is a sovereign linguistically encoded and meaningfully structured semiosis – functions above all as an organizer of physical (or geographical) space. In Spring the name of the village is Paunvere, which is the literary image of Palamuse (the place where Luts attended school), but the genius of the writer has also made it the model of Estonian village society as a whole, which symbolically "loads" the spatial signifiers at Palamuse. Palamuse parish school is not only one among the hundreds of parish schools in Estonia but also the symbol of childhood of all Estonians.

The memorial and nostalgic texture of Luts' text activates, in addition to Palamuse as a real place, also the "paradisiacal space" that once used to exist. Actually, this link is launched by one of the most famous initial sentences in Estonian literature: "When Arno and his father arrived at the schoolhouse, classes had already begun." In other words, all beautiful times had already passed. Jaan Undusk, a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, has thoroughly studied the sacral structure of Spring and reached the conclusion that it unites two powerful melancholy-generating paradigms – nineteenth-century fin de siècle and twentieth-century existentialist view of life.

Quite soon after its publication, Oskar Luts' Spring became required reading in Estonian schools. What greatly contributed to Spring becoming one of the initiators of ecumenical structure of Estonian culture was Andres Särev's dramatization and its huge success on stage in the 1930s. Voldemar Panso's dramatization and production of Spring in 1969 has also unanimously been considered most influential for the Estonian theatre.

A new breakthrough in the mythologization of Spring was Arvo Kruusement's film Spring, released in 1970 (screenplay by Kalju Kiisk and Voldemar Panso), which was followed by Summer (1976, screenplay by Paul-Eerik Rummo) and Autumn (1991, screenplay by Mats Traat). All these films amplified the archetypicality of the events and characters of Spring but also influenced the further reception of Spring as a literary text. In addition to dramatizations, Spring has also been made into a ballet (Ülo Vinter, Mai Murdmaa, 1967) and a musical (Ülo Vinter, Sulev Nõmmik, 1991). The countless legends and anecdotes around Spring and Oskar Luts are a vivid example of folklorization of a text. Spring also began to represent popular culture.

From the viewpoint of a participant in Estonian culture, the sovereign semiosis that has emerged on the basis of Luts' Spring yields part of its structural energy for creating a new unity. This need not be national identity only. It is equally an emotional and mental unity that is created on that basis. The author and his work have become spokespersons of not only its readership but of the whole nation. Moreover, the writer and his creation have amplified the internal voice of the community.


Rein Taagepera
The struggle for Baltic History
The attitudes of Western powers toward the Baltic states in 1945-1990 were steadily affected by how they perceived Baltic history: Whether it even existed and if so, what did its most recent phase represent – occupation or voluntary union? The Baltic refugees were initially poorly prepared for the struggle about history, because they lacked not only English language skills but also understanding of democratic societies. Some books were printed by little known publishers, but studies in scholarly journals were almost completely absent. A breakthrough occurred in the 1960s. Major figures were Vytas Stanley Vardys, who was first to publish articles in top journals and books with major publishers, and Janis Gaigulis, who initiated and kept going the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) and its Journal of Baltic Studies.

Support for scholars was strong in the Latvian exile community, while hesitating in the Estonian and Lithuanian ones. By the time the "Singing Revolution" began, the struggle for Baltic history had been won in the Western world. It had become widely accepted that the Baltic peoples and their histories existed, and Moscow's attempts to rewrite Baltic history could not take root in the West. Winning the struggle for the past helped in the struggle for the future of the Baltic peoples.


Thomas-Andreas Põder
On the objectivity of theology: The four aspects of Elmar Salumaa's concept of theology
The entire value and meaning of theological thought depends on its objectivity. This was the main idea of Elmar Salumaa (15 December 1908 – 7 January 1996), one of the key figures in Estonian theology and theological education in the twentieth Century. The article concretizes Elmar Salumaa's concept of objective theology, showing how it includes four aspects. Ignoring any of these aspects will cause a decrease in the objectivity of theological thought or will render it outright non-objective. Inevitably, in isolation, each aspect of the objectivity of theology remains abstract and is therefore difficult to understand or can be easily misunderstood.

Objective, theo-centric theology is a theology of the Word. In conclusion, this means that objective theology is Christocentric, Gospel-oriented theology.

Objective theology is a theology of faith. Faith is the only way to access the truth of the Gospel. The perspective of faith is, in its essence, the perspective of the Gospel. Objective theology delves into the truth of the Gospel, i.e. into cognition of God who is accessible and public in the Gospel, and interprets, from this point of view, life and being a human, the world and reality as a whole.

Objective theology is a theology of church. Theology presupposes the existence of an ethos and practice of social life that understands itself as being constituted by God who is present in the proclamation of the Gospel and, as such, arouses and confirms trust in himself. The task of theology is to help church to retain its identity, i.e. to remain objective in its task of proclamation and, thus, open to the world.

Objective theology is public theology. This public character consists in analysing and interpreting being a human and the reality of the whole horizon of her or his life, i.e. in concreteness, but also in the constantly new interpretation of the Gospel and of the Christian message, i.e. in its "uptodateness". Objective theology does not under- or overestimate the institutional form of the church and confessional differences, i.e. it is ecumenically open. Theology is open to discussion with different spheres of human life, e.g. science, technology, the arts, other religions, etc., and it cannot distance itself from participating in solving global problems. In all of that, however, theology remains objective only if it – linked to individual faith and the life and struggle of a particular church in a concrete social context – always returns in its cognition to the Gospel as the living Word of God witnessed in the Bible and is guided by it.

Salumaa reached such multifaceted understanding of objective theology early, before World War II. He continued the elucidation and elaboration of his principles throughout his life. Although during several decades several shifts and changes appeared in Salumaa's work, he always remained true to his main idea. This idea is also valid nowadays, even if in the contemporary context there should be a need to formulate some details of the four aspects differently.


Rush Rhees
On religion and philosophy
Discussing the relation between religion and philosophy, the author argues against Brentano's view as if philosophy were a science about God. Rhees, in his turn, asks whether in that case knowledge about God were similar to understanding him, just like a mechanic's knowledge about a machine.

The problem is that people may want to say there is a certain physically given reality that corresponds to their religious beliefs. Rhees explains that the reality of God cannot be a reality that has no place in religious discourse and practice. The reality of God has to be godly reality. This, however, cannot be explained in any other way than in religious terms.

In his letter to Peter Winch on the language of religion, Rhees also emphasizes that one cannot think about the language of religion as if it were comparable with a language that describes circumstances, and religious practices are in no way comparable to practices of physical culture.


Saale Laos
Legitimate aims of surveillance for securing internal peace, and supervision of their legality. II
The article discusses, from the viewpoint of protection of fundamental rights and liberties, constitutional requirements that surveillance meant to secure internal peace has to meet in a democratic state based on the rule of law. The starting point for the treatment is the legitimate aims of surveillance and supervision of the legality of surveillance.

For executive power, the legitimacy of its activity can be achieved by being tied to the constitution and other laws. Here an essential aspect is supervision, as providing procedural guarantees resulting from the need to protect fundamental rights creates a real possibility of efficient supervision of the activity of the state. The practice of the European Court of Human Rights has also emphasized that in the case of secret collection of personal data surveillance activities should be checkable. It is essential to understand that, for example, the requirement of taking minutes about certain surveillance procedures and decisions taken in relation to them or keeping log files when phone calls are tapped is not bureaucracy, but such requirements make it possible to check the legality of surveillance procedures. On the other hand, the existence of procedural guarantees and the multiplicity of supervisors do not exclude the danger that power might be abused. A supervision system existing only on paper is not an efficient measure either in the eyes of the European Court of Human Rights or the constitution. The supervision system also has to function in reality. Although Estonian laws outline parliamentary, judicial and intra-administrative supervision as well as supervision by the Chancellor of Justice, one is still left with the impression that labour division between them, and what is most important, the scope of supervision by each of them has not been argued out or become established in practice. In the situation where one supervisory body relies on the competence and activity of others, ultimately the protection of fundamental rights will suffer.

Above all, it should be emphasized that parliamentary supervision cannot replace intra-administrative supervision. If prior consent of the court is not required for carrying out surveillance, the legality of surveillance activities can most efficiently granted by intra-administrative supervision. Parliamentary supervision like any other external supervision greatly functions by checking the supervisors themselves, influencing and directing them to fulfil their duties. As the aim and scope of supervision by a parliamentary committee are not clearly fixed, it finally blurs the responsibility of concrete ministers. It is also essential to mention that in the case of an insufficient legal base, even a posteriori parliamentary supervision cannot legitimize the illegal activities of the executive power. One should not forget that the legislator is also tied to the principle of the state based on the rule of law.

Supervision of the legality of surveillance carried out for maintenance of law and order, i.e. outside criminal proceedings, is, along with other supervisory bodies, within the competence of the Chancellor of Justice. Supervision by the Chancellor of Justice has a universal character, which includes dealing with complaints by individuals as well as supervision at his own initiative, and therefore he can pay close attention to the legality of any sphere of state activities. Considering that surveillance involves a risk of arbitrary interference with fundamental rights, lack of relevant court practice and problems in the existing laws and supervision system, the Chancellor of Justice will have a lot of work ahead in forthcoming years.


Nicholas Carr
Is Google making us stupid?
The author's point of view is based on the opinion that media channels are not merely technological means but their peculiarities also influence our way of thinking.

He sees the use of the Internet and the accompanying changes in our way of thinking as signs of threat. For example, the new type of reading inhibits the ability of deep reading, making the thought wander in staccato. Due to the flexibility of our brain, even a new type of self-perception and adaptation at the biological level may appear. Even the old media takes over the format-shaping rules of the Internet, contributing to our increasingly systematic re-programming. However, if instead of humans the system is foregrounded, the ethical dimension of being human and the freedom of choice will come under threat. According to the computer logic, ambiguity is not a source of inspiration but a program error that has to be corrected. The human brain is simply an outdated computer that needs a quicker processor and a larger hard disk.

The core of the sceptical way of thinking is – if we start to rely on computers when passing on our understanding of the world, then it is our own reason that will deteriorate into artificial intelligence.


Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A discourse upon the origin and the foundation of the inequality among mankind. III
The Discourse was written for the Académie de Dijon in 1754 and is dedicated to the state of Geneva, Rousseau's birthplace. Rousseau begins his discussion with the analysis of a natural man who has not yet acquired language or abstract thought. The consideration of man in a state of nature as a noble savage was an opposite point of view to Hobbes' view of the pre-civilised man in a state of all-against-all warfare. However, the development of agriculture, metallurgy, private property, and the division of labour led to humans becoming increasingly dependent on one another, and led to inequality. The resulting state of conflict led Rousseau to suggest that the first state was invented as a kind of social contract made at the suggestion of the rich and powerful. This original contract was deeply flawed as the wealthiest and most powerful members of society tricked the general population, and thus instituted inequality as a fundamental feature of human society. Rousseau's own conception of the social contract can be understood as an alternative to this fraudulent form of association. At the end of the Discourse on inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others, which originated in the golden age, comes to undermine personal integrity and authenticity in a society marked by interdependence, hierarchy, and inequality.

Published 2009-01-07