University of Helsinki
Virpi Mäkinen, Senior Lecturer of Systematic Theology, esp. Theological and Social Ethics, University of Helsinki; Title of Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Theological Ethics and Philosophy of Religion (University of Helsinki)
As the Principal Investigator of the project, Mäkinen traces the genealogy of the right of subsistence by focusing on the relations between self-preservation, self-ownership, and the right of necessity in medieval and early modern legal, philosophical and theological sources. The results will be published as a monograph Early History of Subsistence Rights (preliminary title) and in peer-reviewed articles. For her latest book, see Rights at the Margins: Historical, Legal and Philosophical Perspectives, ed. Virpi Mäkinen, Jonathan Robinson, Pamela Slotte & Heikki Haara (Leuven: Brill 2020).
University of Helsinki Research Portal
Heikki Haara, University Lecturer of Political History, University of Helsinki, Doctor of Social Sciences and Master of Theology (University of Helsinki)
As a postdoctoral researcher, Haara concentrates on early modern sources and investigates the appearance of the maxim of extreme necessity in the writings of 17th-century natural law theorists (e.g. Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Locke) by explicating how they both learnt and departed from earlier scholastic traditions when theorising the relation between the right of self-preservation and the maxim. Another task concerning 17th-century Protestant thinkers is to focus on the political implications of the maxim of necessity (e.g. resistance theory and the prisoner’s right).
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Mia Korpiola, Professor of Law, University of Turku, Doctor of Law and Docent in Legal History (University of Helsinki)
As a senior researcher, Korpiola investigates the influence of the learned doctrine “necessitas non habet legem” in Nordic medieval laws as well as in early modern German laws. She focuses on criminal law and especially on cases of theft. Together with Prof. Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde (Oslo), Korpiola has provided the first survey of all Nordic provincial laws that contained the right of necessity (see publications). She started in the project in the late 2022.
University of Turku Research Profile
Ritva Palmén, Academy Research Fellow, University of Helsinki, Title of Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Philosophy of Religion (University of Helsinki)
As a senior researcher, Palmén explores the idea of extreme necessity and its moral psychological implications in medieval and renaissance Latin and vernacular sources (e.g. in Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugh of St. Victor, John of Salisbury) by focusing on the notions of self-preservation and ‘inner security’. Another task is to analyse the topic of moral emotions by asking how the internal moral struggles and their accompanying emotions (despair, fear, shame) were envisioned and evaluated in early Christian depictions of the poor in need.
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Mikko Posti, Liaison Manager, URBARIA (Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies), Doctor in Philosophy of Religion (University of Helsinki)
As a postdoctoral researcher, Posti studied medieval and early modern theological and political texts of Henry of Ghent, John of Naples, and John of Legnano focusing on the concepts of just war and self-defense, and the use of the notion of extreme necessity in these sources. Posti’s research period in the project was 2020–2022.
University of Helsinki Research Portal
Katja Tikka, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, Doctor of Law, Master of Arts in History (University of Helsinki)
As a postdoctoral researcher, Tikka explores late medieval and early modern court documents concerning cases of hunger and theft in Nordic law to see how the doctrine of necessity has been applied. In the wider context, she examines the principle of extreme necessity as a moral and ethical foundation in documents related to the Great Famine and the social control of poverty. Tikka started in January 2023.
University of Helsinki Research Portal
Siiri Toiviainen Rø, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, PhD in Historical Theology (Durham University)
As a postdoctoral researcher, Toiviainen Rø explores notions and scenarios of extreme necessity in early Christian writings, including their broader Graeco-Roman context and medieval receptions. She is particularly interested in the rich discussion on necessity as a defence in Graeco-Roman rhetoric, and in early Christian accounts of poverty and moral agency.
University of Helsinki Research Portal