Holger Thesleff

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Holger Thesleff (* 1924 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish classical philologist and historian of philosophy .

After graduating from school in 1942, Thesleff served as an artilleryman in the wars against the Soviet Union . After the end of it, he went to sea on a tall ship . He later published his experiences under the title Farewell Windjammer (Thames & Hudson, London 1951).

He then studied Greek , Latin and Comparative Linguistics at the University of Helsinki . After graduating in 1948, he continued his studies at University College London in the early 1950s and received his PhD in 1954 with a dissertation on intensifying expressions in ancient Greek at the University of Helsinki. From 1955 on he held various academic positions in Finland . In 1968 he was appointed to the chair of Greek Philology at the University of Helsinki, and in 1987 he retired.

He published in Finnish, Swedish and English. In the late 1950s he began studying Pythagorean literature from a Platonist perspective. He then devoted himself to Plato , who became his research focus and whose full translation into Swedish and Finnish he published. In particular, his investigations into Plato's style and chronology received much attention. In both languages ​​he published not only on Plato, but also on ancient intellectual history .

In addition to membership in various academic societies, he was a founding member of the Nordic Plato Society ( Platonselskabet ; from 1970 on) and the International Plato Society (IPS; from 1989 on).

Fonts (selection)

  • An introduction to the Pythagorean writings of the Hellenistic period. Åbo Akademi, Åbo 1961.
  • (Ed.): The Pythagorean texts of the Hellenistic period. Collected and edited by Holger Thesleff. Åbo Akademi, Åbo 1965.
  • Studies in the Styles of Plato. 1967.
  • Studies in Platonic Chronology. 1982.
  • Plato (suom. Marja Itkonen-Kaila). 1989; in the Swedish version 1990.
  • with Juha Sihvola: Antiikin filosofia ja aatemaailma. WSOY, Porvoo 1994. ISBN 951-0-19930-3 . - ("Ancient philosophy and the history of ideas")
  • Studies in Plato's Two-level Model (= Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 113). Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki 1999.
  • Platonic Patterns. A Collection of Studies. Parmenides Publishing, Las Vegas, Nevada 2009.
  • Platonin arvoitus. Gaudeamus, Helsinki 2011. ISBN 978-952-495-200-2 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thesleff, Holger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish classical philologist and historian of philosophy
DATE OF BIRTH 1924