The archaeological record is information left in artifacts and biofacts from an extinct culture. It is the result of a process of growth of entropy in the site, which destroys the structures of culture. I theorize on archaeological information and archaeological entropy – the missing information about the site. From archaeological record to virtual reconstruction, information is extracted from the entropy of the extinct cultural form/process in the archaeological record. Archaeological entropy is differential and depends on the material, not the (...) culture. (shrink)

In this paper I present a definition of artifact based on cases of philosophical and scientifical use: anthropogenic abiotic virtual or real object with meaning and/or function. This definition is proposed in a new dimension: real–virtual, which purports to replace the classical opposition material–ideal as a better way of defining what an artifact is. I consider as virtual here not only digital simulations, but all sign forms. I show that my definition works better in explaining artifacts. I follow empirical science (...) as a technique of studying artifacts, and subscribe to the anthropological paradigm. (shrink)

In this paper I present a new dimension for philosophical and scientific analysis of artifacts as anthropogenic abiotic objects along the lines of the distinction between real and virtual. This distinction purports to replace the classical opposition material–ideal as a better way of defining what an artifact is and as one more compatible with the scientific description and explanation of artefacts. The virtual relativity of the virtual artifacts is their relatedness to local language forms as an adequate coordinate system. The (...) real relativity of artifacts is their relatedness to local and global human life processes. The article follows empirical science as a technique of studying artifacts, and subscribes to the anthropological paradigm. (shrink)

We produce language forms via their relations in coordinate systems: languages. That is virtual language relativity. Languages are related to phenomena and work in the real life of communities. That is real language relativity. We use languages via symbolic behaviors, living in human communities. Relativism collapses at the level of successful exchange of experience between humans belonging to distant cultures. Relativism is a stance of not recognizing the real relatedness of all languages to one and the same human form and (...) world. Absolutism (Universalism) is a stance of not recognizing relativity as definiteness, that is, the virtual interrelatedness of all languages. Languages are shaped by human life processes. We follow the path from “local languages,” which are analogous to ‘inertial systems’, (this represents ‘virtual relativity,’ which is analogous to special relativity in physics) to living people talking about one shared sensual world (this represents ‘real relativity’). (shrink)

This paper continues my “Virtual and real Relativity” (section Ontology). Both present the monograph: Philosophy of Relativity (Gherdjikov 2008). We pass each other. In the same degree we do not know ourselves as an ego, as community, as civilization. This is an unconsciousness relativity effect, which comes into being in the process of communication between cultures and between individuals. Relating is virtual defining – projection of the real connection between moments of alife process. ‘This’ without ‘that’ is not this. ‘I’ (...) without ‘you’ is not I. ‘West’ without ‘East’ is not west. ‘Man’ without other living beings is not man. Global relativity awareness. The live awareness of relativity makes our mental forms conditional and we do not expect them to be the same as other people. We explore other people’s attitudes and categories like religion without a God and a fate, freedom without individual independence, nature without the division in ‘human’ and ‘animal’ and world beyond the division ‘nature–culture’. We realize the relativity and conditionality of the I, the Absolute, Necessity, Causality, Freedom. Thisbrings us nearer to planetary wisdom: we all are human and living beings and have to uphold our unconditional life against the destructive forces. This theoretical scheme is developed into a study, giving new solutions to a series of problems concerning information and meaning, the world and language, identity and difference. (shrink)

Here the topics of the virtual and that of relativity are joined together. New concepts of relation, virtuality and reality are devised. Relation is definition. It is not something detached and real but is the very ‘thing’. Relating is virtual defining – projection of the real connection between moments of a life process. ‘This’ without ‘that’ is not this. ‘I’ without ‘you’ is not I. ‘West’ without ‘East’ is not west. ‘Man’ without other living beings is not man. We pass (...) each other. In the same degree we do not know ourselves as an ego, as community, as civilization. This is an unconsciousness relativity effect, which comes into being in the process of communication between cultures and between individuals. Relativity in awareness can be a virtual freedom for a synthesis of definitions, relations and descriptions, and a real freedom for a synthesis of a life process, identity and life in a human form. Which is real and which is not, if thongs are definiteonly in relation? Which is real and which is not in a global interrelating and virtual communication? The virtual pertains to all artefacts. The reality of artefacts, and especially of signs, lies in their being related to a meaning, their reality is relational. Meaning is understood as a moment of a human life process. The scheme iselaborated in two spheres: virtual and real relativity analogous to special and general relativity (Einstein). (shrink)