When I was six or seven (as pictured), I could not have dreamt of being an academic in Helsinki or of being a philosopher – in fact, I didn’t even know that such things as Helsinki and philosophy existed. But now that I am turning 40 and those things are part of who I am, I would like to build on the excellent conditions I have been given to promote the field of the history of philosophy at the University of Helsinki. It is not always easy to make the case for the need for the history of philosophy, butas my colleague and friend Gabriel Sandu remarked, there is no leading philosophy department in the world that does not excel in the history of philosophy.

Since reading Jean Piaget and Edgar Morin in my student days, it has always fascinated me how we perceive things in the external world in order to efficiently negotiate our way around the environment (bumping into tables and other people included). But my interest in the topic has shifted to the historical development of theories of perception and the conceptions of the mind and the human person associated with them. My dream is to pursue this fascination (by researching and teaching) for the next fifty years!