In Media

Public Philosopher

I've been constantly in the Finnish media since 1980, becoming a household name first as "the punk doctor", then as a philosopher who comments anything and everything and whose private life is closely followed by the press. For instance, when our twin boys where born in 1989, it was put up as no 1 news on the front page of the leading afternoon newspaper Ilta-Sanomat (they where the first to find out, several days after the actual event).

Media Philosophy

55_image_IltaSanomatLooppi.jpgIn Imagologies: Media Philosophy (1994, with Mark C. Taylor) I developed a concept of philosophy that matched my experiences up until then. I argued that philosophy should take itself to the media, the media being the current equivalent to the marketplace of Athens that Socrates used in order to challenge his contemporaries to think. The idea of the philosopher as a public individual inspired me, and I saw a historic role for the philosopher as somebody who extends "the public use of reason" (Kant). Since then, philosophers have become an accepted part of the Finnish public life, and are often asked for comments and interviewed by the press.

Media philosophy has also received serious academic attention particularly as a result of groundbreaking work of Mike Sandbothe.


Philosopher of the Everyday

I started to distance myself from the media by the mid 1990's. I still enjoyed being famous but did not do anything to promote it. I had become more excited about the possibilities of philosophy for the purposes of promoting the cause of a good life in an open-to-all seminar and lecture setting. I became more and more convinced that the task of a philosopher is to be radically pragmatic, tuned to the everyday and to the enhancement of the actual lifes of people (as opposed to the advancement of a discipline or an expertize). A philosopher should commit himself or herself to human flourishment and explore and make use of the possibilities of using movement of thought to create it. Thesis on Philosophy.

Wikipedia article on E Saarinen

Some Media Appearances

  • 33_image_KeskustelujaFilOllila.jpgTV-program "Keskusteluja filosofin kanssa" (Discussions with a Philosopher), with the guests Jorma Ollila, Marimekko owner Kirsti Paakkanen, Conductor-Composer Leif Segerstam, Prof. Leena Palotie, Philosopher Pekka Himanen, Cultural Star M.A. Numminen, Yle Teema Channel December 2004, Yle-1 Channel Spring 2005.
  • Kadri Kulas interview for Estonian TV
  • Project Dream, link to the entire interview
  • "Alpine" Seminar Kaprun, Austria 8-11.6.2003, interview with Esa Saarinen, Intake MBA 2001, HUT MBA Programs: ..."Q: What is essential in leading people? ES: "There is so much more to each human being than meets the eye - more that is good, generous, spirited, virtuous. The challenge of people leadership is to tap into this hidden treasure and make it flourish. Leading people to personal growth is the most essential call of people leadership."
  • "They Do Things Differently in Finland", Tim Le Bon, The Philosophers' Magazine 1st Quarter 2004:... "Where Saarinen departs from Socrates in his belief that people are best reached en masse, through philosophical lecturing, Saarinen himself addresses over 100 groups a year, comprising more than 10,000 people in total. The typical format is a lecture of two to three hours, somehow connected to 'the good life'. Saarinen's lectures incorporate the ideas of philosophers, ancient and modern - his personal favorite is Sartre, 'for his energy and outrageous explosiveness' - but his main aim is to provide perspectives to reinvigorate his audience's thinking, not to transmit knowledge."
  • Ilkka Niiniluoto, "Philosophy in Finland - The Cultural Setting", Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities vol. 80, 2003, 11-41: ..."Among the rivals of von Wright in these polls one finds Esa Saarinen, who has been energetic and inspiring in developing new methods of teaching philosophy in university and schools. Via popular media, Saarinen has offered philosophical commentaries for the general public on a variety of issues - ranging from sex to punk rock, poetry, the American lifestyle, mass media, managerial leadership, and the "philosophy of magnificent life." His postmodern anti-book with Mark C. Taylor Imagologies: Media Philosophy (1994) is a Routledge bestseller. Saarinen has created for himself a successful career as a "media philosopher" and a consultant of the Nokia company and other corporations. In 2002, he has been appointed Professor of Applied Philosophy and Creative Problems-Solving at the Helsinki University of Technology. It is remarkable fact about Finland, often found astonishing by colleagues from other contries, that philosophers like von Wright and Saarinen truly are among the national public figures best known to the so-called man (and woman) in the street."
  • "Sartre Was a Superstart", interview by Katja Pantzar, Finnair's Blue Wings Magazine, November 2003: ...
    "Saarinen cites philosophers Socrates, Sartre and Bertrand Russell - alongside his wife - as major influences.
    'Socrates started this philosophy of the everyday, turning to people as opposed to focusing on the elite concerns of the priviledged,' explains Saarinen. 'He didn't write anything down but believed in the uplifting possibilities of live human encounter and dialogue. Sartre is inspirational because he was a philosopher of the masses, another anti-elitist. He didn't go to any pre-existing soapbox. He was the first philosopher who was a cultural supestar, a celebrity philosopher.'
  • Interview with Nokia People Magazine
  • Article in Norwegian
  • Article in Estonian
  • Article in Estonian
  • M A Numminen's homepage
  • Mark C. Taylor Interview