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Today, on May 8th, professor emeritus of the University of Iceland, Mikael M. Karlsson was given the title of honorary doctor of Tallinn University. The commencement ceremony took place during the XI Estonian Philosophy Annual Conference, hosted by the department of philosophy at the TU Estonian Institute of Humanities. Professor Karlsson has collaborated with the institute for a long time.

Siobhan Kattago, the associate professor of political philosophy at the institute, who introduced professor Karlsso, said there was no doubt the title of honorary doctor should go to him: “He has initated the Baltic Philosophy Network, which held joint master programmes in practical philosophy from 2007-2012, that included students and staff from Iceland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Moreover, in 2012, when the project was at an end, it was professon Karlsson, who with Olli Loukola found a way to continue this initiative. We owe Mike Karlsson a lot and we are very thankful.”

Mike (Mikael M.) Karlsson is an Icelandic philosopher born in New York City and educated in the USA. He emigrated to Reykjavík in the early 1970s and began an academic career at the University of Iceland, where he was instrumental in building up the newly established Department of Philosophy, eventually becoming Full Professor of Philosophy in 1995 and retiring as Emeritus Professor in 2013 (although he continues to teach and write). From 2003 to 2006 he served as founding Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at the University of Akureyri. He has been very active in fostering staff and student exchanges all over Europe. He has authored a modest corpus of articles in philosophy, with emphases in philosophy of law, moral philosophy, philosophy of mind and action, and selected areas in the history of Western (and ancient Chinese) philosophy.