Erkki Hartikainen
Encyclopedia
Erkki Juhani Hartikainen (b. June 24, 1942, Finland
) is the chairman of Atheist association of Finland ("Suomen Ateistiyhdistys" in Finnish, a very small atheistic association in Finland). He qualified as a Master of Science
in the University of Helsinki
in 1967. His subjects were mathematics
, a theoretical philosophy
and computer science
. Hartikainen has been the chairman of Atheist association of Finland since the year 1985.
On his career Hartikainen has served as the actuary
in the end of the 1960s, for nearly 20 years as the teacher
of mathematics, physics
and chemistry
in schools, and after that since the year 1989 as teacher of information technology
in the adult college of Vantaa
. He was working in 1994–1998 as a statistician
in the city of Vantaa. Hartikainen retired in 2005.
In Union of Freethinkers of Finland ("Vapaa-ajattelijan liitto" in Finnish, the biggest atheist association in Finland) Hartikainen operated for 40 years, as a chairman in 1999–2005. He has been one of the leading atheist freethinkers in Finland. He was the editor
in chief of the Freethinkers Union's Vapaa Ajattelija magazine
for several periods since 1969. In 1982–1983 as secretary general of the Union of Freethinkers his objective was get to Finland the teaching of the ”elämänkatsomustieto” (”life stance
education”, a religious alternative to religion teaching in schools), which indeed came true later.
Hartikainen complained to the human rights committee of the United Nations
from the curriculum of the comprehensive school subject of the ”uskontojen historia ja siveysoppi” (history of religions and ethics) in 1978. The complaint was successful and ”elämänkatsomustieto” was adopted by schools as a subject.
Hartikainen has been the chairman of Finland's Atheist Association (Suomen Ateistiyhdistys) since its establishment on May 16, 1985. The Atheist Association was founded as an allowance organisation in case other organisations give up the defending of the Atheist's human rights
. Hartikainen was one of the head organisers of The Third World Atheist Conference with Madalyn Murray O'Hair
and other of American Atheists
. Conference was held in Helsinki
in 1983.
In addition to the domestic operation, Hartikainen has participated in the operation of the Atheist business through the foreign countries visits and corresponded regularly with other foreign atheist activists. In the 1980s he delivered the doctrine material of the ”elämänkatsomustieto” of the irreligious (the history of religions and ethics of that time) into use. It was intended for WSOY
to publish it but the project was cancelled. Nowadays the material is available freely on the Internet
.
As a thinker, Hartikainen supports atheism
and ontological materialism. He favours the words 'reality research', 'realityconception' (conception of reality
) and 'lifeconception' as better alternatives for words 'science
', 'world view
' and 'philosophy of life' (life stance
). He supports Finnish physicist
Kari Enqvist
’s view, that emergence
means 'coarsening' and the losing of information
relating to the description of reality (examples: statistical thermodynamics, classical electrodynamics, thinking of an animal
etc.) Hartikainen is a modern logical empiricist and he recommends not using words “a priori truth” and saying “correct by definition” or “derivable from axiom
s” instead.
Hartikainen is member of Social Democratic Party of Finland
.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
) is the chairman of Atheist association of Finland ("Suomen Ateistiyhdistys" in Finnish, a very small atheistic association in Finland). He qualified as a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
in 1967. His subjects were mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, a theoretical philosophy
Theoretical philosophy
The division of philosophy into a practical and a theoretical discipline has its origin in Aristotle's moral philosophy and natural philosophy categories. In Denmark, Finland, Poland, and Sweden courses in theoretical and practical philosophy are taught separately, and are separate degrees...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. Hartikainen has been the chairman of Atheist association of Finland since the year 1985.
On his career Hartikainen has served as the actuary
Actuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....
in the end of the 1960s, for nearly 20 years as the teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
of mathematics, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
in schools, and after that since the year 1989 as teacher of information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
in the adult college of Vantaa
Vantaa
Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.Vantaa, with its population of , is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there...
. He was working in 1994–1998 as a statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
in the city of Vantaa. Hartikainen retired in 2005.
In Union of Freethinkers of Finland ("Vapaa-ajattelijan liitto" in Finnish, the biggest atheist association in Finland) Hartikainen operated for 40 years, as a chairman in 1999–2005. He has been one of the leading atheist freethinkers in Finland. He was the editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
in chief of the Freethinkers Union's Vapaa Ajattelija magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
for several periods since 1969. In 1982–1983 as secretary general of the Union of Freethinkers his objective was get to Finland the teaching of the ”elämänkatsomustieto” (”life stance
Life stance
A person's life stance, or lifestance, is their relation with what they accept as being of ultimate importance, the presuppositions and theory of this, and the commitments and practice of working it out in living....
education”, a religious alternative to religion teaching in schools), which indeed came true later.
Hartikainen complained to the human rights committee of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
from the curriculum of the comprehensive school subject of the ”uskontojen historia ja siveysoppi” (history of religions and ethics) in 1978. The complaint was successful and ”elämänkatsomustieto” was adopted by schools as a subject.
Hartikainen has been the chairman of Finland's Atheist Association (Suomen Ateistiyhdistys) since its establishment on May 16, 1985. The Atheist Association was founded as an allowance organisation in case other organisations give up the defending of the Atheist's human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. Hartikainen was one of the head organisers of The Third World Atheist Conference with Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist and founder of the organization American Atheists and its president from 1963 to 1986. One of her sons, Jon Garth Murray, was the president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, while she remained de facto president during these nine years....
and other of American Atheists
American Atheists
American Atheists is an organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating for the complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs and the news media. It also publishes books and the monthly...
. Conference was held in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
in 1983.
In addition to the domestic operation, Hartikainen has participated in the operation of the Atheist business through the foreign countries visits and corresponded regularly with other foreign atheist activists. In the 1980s he delivered the doctrine material of the ”elämänkatsomustieto” of the irreligious (the history of religions and ethics of that time) into use. It was intended for WSOY
SanomaWSOY
Sanoma Oyj is a leading media group in the Nordic countries with operations in 20 European countries, based in Helsinki...
to publish it but the project was cancelled. Nowadays the material is available freely on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
As a thinker, Hartikainen supports atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and ontological materialism. He favours the words 'reality research', 'realityconception' (conception of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
) and 'lifeconception' as better alternatives for words 'science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
', 'world view
World view
A comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
' and 'philosophy of life' (life stance
Life stance
A person's life stance, or lifestance, is their relation with what they accept as being of ultimate importance, the presuppositions and theory of this, and the commitments and practice of working it out in living....
). He supports Finnish physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Kari Enqvist
Kari Enqvist
Kari-Pekka Enqvist is a professor of cosmology in the Department of Physical Sciences at the University of Helsinki...
’s view, that emergence
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
means 'coarsening' and the losing of information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
relating to the description of reality (examples: statistical thermodynamics, classical electrodynamics, thinking of an animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
etc.) Hartikainen is a modern logical empiricist and he recommends not using words “a priori truth” and saying “correct by definition” or “derivable from axiom
Axiom
In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proven or demonstrated but considered either to be self-evident or to define and delimit the realm of analysis. In other words, an axiom is a logical statement that is assumed to be true...
s” instead.
Hartikainen is member of Social Democratic Party of Finland
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
.
Translations into Finnish
- Shibles, WarrenWarren ShiblesWarren A. Shibles is an American philosopher, historian and professor. His B.A. is from the University of Connecticut and his M.A. from the University of Colorado. He was head of the department of philosophy of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He is the author of numerous articles in history...
(1979): Etiikkaa lapsille ja nuorille. (Original work: Ethics, 1978.) Translator into Finnish: Erkki Hartikainen. Helsinki: Vapaa-ajattelijain liitto ry. - Shibles, Warren (1979): Emootiot: Lisää etiikkaa lapsille ja nuorille. (Original work: Emotion, 1978.) Translator into Finnish: Erkki Hartikainen. Helsinki: Vapaa-ajattelijain liitto ry.
- Baggini, Julian (2005): Ateismi: Lyhyt johdanto. (Original work: Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, 2003.) Translators into Finnish: Erkki Hartikainen, Suvi Laukkanen ja Paula Vasama. Kustannus Oy Vapaa Ajattelija. ISBN 951-98702-1-0.
External links
- Homepage
- Atheist Association of Finland
- Erkki Hartikainen: Lecture on Atheism in The Finnish Society for Natural Philosophy 30 October 2003
- Erkki Hartikainen: Opponents of the logical empiricism