Simo Knuuttila did extensive international research during his career.
Theological ethics and Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Religion Simo Knuuttila has died at the age of 76 years. Knuuttila’s close circle told about it.
Knuuttila was born in Peräseinäjoki on May 8, 1946 and enrolled as a student at the Seinäjoki Lyceum in 1965. During his career, Knuuttila worked as an Academy Professor at the Academy of Finland from 1994 to 2009 and as a Professor of Theological Ethics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Helsinki from 1981 to 2014.
He was a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences since 1988 and a member of the Academia Europaea since 2004.
In 2008 Knuuttila was awarded the Gad Rausing Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Fiction for his work in the humanities.
In 2011, he was awarded the Finnish Science Prize, worth 85,000 euros. The award was given to Knuuttila for, among other things, high-quality international research on the development stages of European philosophy and theology, as well as numerous prestigious positions of trust, translation work and active participation in science policy.
The award is presented every two years by the Ministry of Education and Culture on the proposal of the Academy of Finland.
In a 50-year-old interview published in Helsingin Sanomat in 1996, Knuuttila was told has a deep interest specifically in ancient and medieval philosophy and considers himself both a theologian and a philosopher.
“Age is of no use in philosophy either, because the basic questions of philosophy are so difficult. In the humanities, age has such an advantage that it has had time to read a lot and look around a little,” he said at the time.