Jaap Mansfeld (born 1936) is a Dutch Emeritus Professor of

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 ...

and a

historian of philosophy The history of philosophy is the systematic study of the development of Philosophy, philosophical thought. It focuses on philosophy as rational inquiry based on argumentation, but some theorists also include myth, Religion, religious traditions ...

Life

Jaap Mansfeld began his studies in 1954 at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

, where he received his doctorate in 1964 with a thesis on

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; ; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic ancient Greece, Greek philosopher from Velia, Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Veli ...

. From 1973 until his retirement in 2001 he was a professor of ancient philosophy, and subsequently professor of History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, at Utrecht University. He has been a full member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

since 1989., as well as a member of the board for several scholarly journals. In 1991 he was elected a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

. A book was published in honour of his 60th birthday in 1996 by

Keimpe Algra Keimpe Arnoldus Algra (born 5 April 1959) is a Dutch professor of Ancient philosophy, Ancient and Medieval philosophy at Utrecht University. Career Algra was born on 5 April 1959 in Utrecht. He studied classical languages and literature at Utrecht ...

, Pieter Willem van der Horst, and David T. Runia. In 1998, Mansfeld was awarded the

Humboldt research award The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of t ...

for his outstanding achievements in research and teaching. Mansfeld was made an honorary citizen of the ancient city of Elea, the town of Parmenides, by the Eleatica conference in 2013. Mansfeld's focus is on

doxography Doxography ( – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term was coined by ...

, and he has had a thirty year collaboration with David Theunis Runia on the fragments and testimonia of the doxographer Aëtios.

Select publications

* * * * * With Oliver Primavesi * * * * ''Aëtiana : the method and intellectual context of a doxographer.'' with David Theunis, in five volumes. ** ** ** ** **

Literature

References

External links

*
Profile at the University of UtrechtBibliography
(PDF-file; 360 kB)
Article on doxography in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansfeld, Jaap 1936 births Living people Dutch historians of philosophy Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Utrecht University alumni Academic staff of Utrecht University Members of Academia Europaea