Esa Jouni Olavi Saarinen (born 27 July 1953 in

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; , ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Hyvinkää is situated in the northern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Hyvinkää is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish

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 ...

who was a professor of

applied philosophy Applied philosophy (philosophy from Greek: φιλοσοφία, philosophia, 'love of wisdom') is a branch of philosophy that studies philosophical problems of practical concern. The topic covers a broad spectrum of issues in environment, medicin ...

Aalto University Aalto University (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economic ...

and co-director of the Systems Intelligence Research Group,''Kuka kukin on 2003'', pp. 867–868. Helsinki: Otava, 2002. until his retirement in 2021. Saarinen completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in 1978 at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, where he has since held a docentship. His extrovert public persona – he became known as the “punk doctor” – was reflected in his lectures at the university, which drew increasingly large audiences until the late 1990s. After failing to get the position of full-time professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Saarinen resigned from his lecturer position. Soon afterwards he was appointed professor at Helsinki University of Technology, since then renamed Aalto University. Saarinen's philosophical interests have changed dramatically, from early writings in

formal logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

, to concerns with

existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

and later to

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

philosophy. The year 1994 saw the publication of Saarinen's best-known non-academic work, Imagologies: Media Philosophy, written jointly with American philosopher Mark C. Taylor. In addition to academic teaching, Saarinen has also continued his business as a coach for Finnish companies and organisations, promoting a doctrine of

self-actualization Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest personal aspirational human need in the hierarchy. It represents where one's potential is fully realized after more basic needs, such as for the body and the ego, have been fulfill ...

. Saarinen is married to Pipsa Pallasvesa and has two sons, Jerome and Oliver, born in 1989. One of Esa Saarinen's former students is the philosopher Pekka Himanen. Esa Saarinen was stabbed with a knife by a student outside a lecture hall in March 2014. He survived without life-threatening injuries.Thursday's papers: Professor stabbing, icebreaker move and spring-like driving conditions.

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

. March 6, 2014.

Articles

Philosophy for Managers
2008

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saarinen, Esa People from Hyvinkää 1953 births Living people Logicians Stabbing survivors 21st-century Finnish philosophers Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class