Jaakko Hintikka
Humanist of the day

Jaakko Hintikka

Jaakko Hintikka was a leading scholar in the field of philosophical logic and a significant contributor to its development. Hintikka was of the view that, with sufficient academic support, Finnish philosophical research can be among the best in the world.

Jaakko Hintikka

Kaarlo Jaakko Juhani Hintikka
Born January 12, 1929, Helsingin pitäjä. Died August 12, 2015, Helsinki.

Master of Arts, Licentiate of Philosophy, 1952, and Doctor of Philosophy (Mathematics), 1956, University of Helsinki

Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, 1990–2014
Visiting Honorary Professor 2010–11, University of Helsinki
Docent, University of Helsinki, 1981–92
Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University, 1978–90
Research Professor, Academy of Finland, 1970–81
Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University, 1965–82
Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Helsinki, 1959–70
Docent, Theoretical Philosophy, University of Helsinki , 1955–59

Research interests: Mathematical and philosophical logic. Also epistemology, philosophy of science, aesthetics,  philosophy of language, history of philosophy and modern philosophy.

Awards and honours
Volume in Library of Living Philosophers series, 2006
Member, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 1961-

Honorary Member, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 2007
Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

Honorary Doctorates from Universities of Krakova, Liège, Oulu, Turku and Uppsala
Achievement Award, Finnish Cultural Foundation, 1989
Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland, 2011

Photo: Sami Syrjämäki
Written by Heta Muurinen
Translated by John Calton

Jaakko Hintikka is one of the founders of modern logic. He has been regarded as the father of epistemic logic, doxastic logic and game-theoretical semantics. Hintikka has made breakthroughs in most branches of philosophy and offered interesting interpretations on many canonical figures of western philosophy, such as Aristotle, René

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The student of philosophy and mathematics, Jaakko Hintikka, was sitting in the Mathematics department and happened to overhear a conversation between two young mathematics teachers. One of them explained how his colleague Olli Lehto was a consultant in the [original] cable factory.

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