Raymond Klibansky

Klibansky, Raymond

Raymond Klibansky, philosopher and historian (b at Paris 15 Oct 1905; d Montreal 5 Aug 2005). He studied in Kiel, Hamburg, and Heidelberg, where he received a doctorate in philosophy in 1928, and eventually, completed an MA at Oxford. Successively he carried out the duties of academic assistant in Heidelberg (1927-1933), lecturer at King's College (London, 1934-1936) and at Oriel College (Oxford, 1936-1948); and lecturer in the philosophy of religion at the University of Liverpool (1938-1939). He was a member of the London Foreign Office from 1941 to 1946, and eventually became the Director of Studies at the Warburg Institute in London (1947-1948). A Professor Emeritus at McGill University, he was the Frothingham Professor of Logic and Metaphysics (1946 -1975); a visiting professor in the history of philosophy at the Université de Montréal (1947-1968); President of the International Institute of Philosophy (1966-1969 and Honorary President since 1969); and the Chair of its Bibliographic Committee. He was named a Doctor honoris causa at the University of Ottawa and the University of Marburg, and was a member of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Historical Society of London and numerous national and international academies.

The author of an impressive work on the history of medieval and modern philosophy, Raymond Klibansky made his name with his thesis on Proclus. He was a specialist in medieval and renaissance Neo-Platonism, and the editor of Corpus platonicum Medii Aevi and works of Nicolas de Cues. His book Saturn and Melancholy (1989), written in collaboration with E. Panofsky and F. Saxl, is considered a masterpiece in the history of ideas. Committed to the promotion of values and tolerance, he devoted a significant part of his work to the thought of John Locke. He was responsible for the appearance of numerous collections including several international evaluations on philosophical thinking.