Eero Loone (born 26 May 1935 in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

) is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He is the son of Nigolas Loone and Leida Loone. Eero Loone graduated from the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in 1958 (he studied history). From 1958 to 1960, Loone worked as junior researcher at the USSR institute of Global Economy and International Relations. Since 1966, he has been lecturer of philosophy (specializing in

practical philosophy Practical philosophy concerns itself mainly with subjects that have applications in life, like the study of values, norms, politics, art, etc. The modern division of philosophy into theoretical philosophy and practical philosophyImmanuel Kant, ...

) at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

(became a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1988). He became Doctor of Philosophy in 1984. From 1989 to 1990 Eero Loone worked at

Clare Hall, Cambridge Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It was est ...

(he became lifelong member of the college). He has been particularly influenced by

analytical philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

. Loone's views on

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

historical materialism Historical materialism is Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx located historical change in the rise of Class society, class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. Karl Marx stated that Productive forces, techno ...

have found resonance in the West. According to Varoufakis, Loone's verdict (as evident in ''Soviet Marxism and Analytical Philosophies of History'') on Soviet Communism is arguably "devastating and coincides with that of many Western scholars Marxist (e.g. Alex Callinicos) and non-Marxist (e.g. Alec Nove) alike″

Yanis Varoufakis Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis (; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founde ...

: ''Book Review: "Soviet Marxism and Soviet Analytical Philosophies of History" by Eero Loone.'' In: ''

Science & Society ''Science & Society: A Journal of Marxist Thought and Analysis'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of Marxist scholarship. It covers economics, philosophy of science, historiography, women's studies, literature, the arts, and other soc ...

.'' 1994
PDF
) Since 2000, Loone has been

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the University of Tartu. Eero Loone is married to Leiki Loone and has two daughters: Piret Loone and Oudekki Loone (a political scientist and member of Estonian Parliament Riigikogu since 2015).

Works

*Eero Loone ''Soviet Marxism and Analytical Philosophies of History''. London and Moscow, 1992. *Eero Loone, "Marxism and Perestroika," Soviet Studies 42, no. 4 (October 1990): 791

References

21st-century Estonian philosophers 20th-century Estonian philosophers 1935 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Tartu Writers from Tartu {{Estonia-academic-bio-stub