Sir Moses Finley | |
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| Born | Moses Israel Finkelstein (1912-05-20)20 May 1912 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | 23 June 1986(1986-06-23) (aged 74) Cambridge,Cambridgeshire, England |
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| Discipline | Classics |
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| School or tradition | Frankfurt School |
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Sir Moses Israel FinleyFBA (bornFinkelstein; 20 May 1912 – 23 June 1986) was an American-born British academic andclassical scholar. His prosecution by theUnited States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security during the 1950s resulted in his relocation to England, where he became an English classical scholar and eventually master ofDarwin College, Cambridge. His most notable publication isThe Ancient Economy (1973), in which he argued that the economy in antiquity was governed by status and civic ideology rather than rational economic motivations.
Finley was born in 1912 in New York City to Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen. About 1946, he adopted the surname Finley.[1] He was educated atSyracuse University, where, aged fifteen, he graduatedmagna cum laude in psychology, and atColumbia University. Although his M.A. was inpublic law, most of his published work concernedancient history, especially the social and economic aspects of the classical world.
In 1932 Finley married Mary (née Moscowitz, who later changed to her mother's surname, Thiers), a schoolteacher, and the two enjoyed a happy and mutually reinforcing marriage. On the day of her death he suffered acerebral haemorrhage, and he died the following day on 23 June 1986 at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.[1]The New York Times obituary adds: "He had suffered a stroke the previous day, an hour after learning of the death of his wife."[2]
Finley taught atColumbia University andCity College of New York, where he was influenced by members of theFrankfurt School who were working in exile in America. He then taught atRutgers University.
On 5 September 1951, an ex-communist,Karl Wittfogel, testified before theHouse Un-American Activities Committee that Finley was a communist. On 28 March 1952, Finley appeared before the Committee and invoked theFifth Amendment regarding his association with communism. On 7 September 1952,Lewis Webster Jones, the president of Rutgers University, announced his intention to appoint Trustee and Faculty Committees to review the cases of professors involved in government inquiries. On 15 November 1952,FBI DirectorJ. Edgar Hoover met with Jones to discuss the cases. On 12 December 1952, Rutger's Board of Trustees resolution declared, "It shall be cause for immediate dismissal of any member of faculty or staff" to fail to co-operate with government inquiries. On 31 December 1952, Rutgers dismissed Finley.[3] Rutgers University records show:
On 3 December 1952, the Special Faculty Committee issued a report stating there should be no charges against Heimlich or Finley and that the University should take no further action in the matter. However, the Trustees, who had the final say in the matter, issued a resolution on 12 December 1952: "it shall be cause for immediate dismissal of any member of faculty or staff" who invokes the Fifth Amendment before an investigatory body in refusing to answer questions relating to communist affiliations and that Professors Heimlich and Finley would be dismissed as of December of 31, 1952 unless they conformed to the new policy. Neither chose to do so. There was protest at the decision by members of the faculty, who formed an Emergency Committee on the matter.[4]
In 1954, he appeared before theUnited States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, which asked him whether he had ever been a member of theCommunist Party USA. He again invoked theFifth Amendment and refused to answer.
Finley immigrated to Britain, where he was appointed university lecturer in classics atCambridge (1955–1964) and, during 1957, elected to a fellowship atJesus College. He was reader of ancient social and economic history (1964–1970), professor of ancient history (1970–1979) and master ofDarwin College (1976–1982).[5] He gave the 1974Mortimer Wheeler Archaeological Lecture.[6]
He broadened the scope of classical studies fromphilology to culture, economics, and society. He became aBritish subject in 1962, and a Fellow of theBritish Academy in 1971, and was knighted by QueenElizabeth II during 1979. He was a doctorate adviser toPaul Millett, now a senior lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge.
Among his works,The World of Odysseus (1954, revised ed. with additional essays 1978) proved seminal. In it, he applied the findings of ethnologists and anthropologists likeMarcel Mauss to interpretHomer, a radical method that was thought by his publishers to require a reassuring introduction by an establishedclassicist,Maurice Bowra.Paul Cartledge asserted in 1995, "... in retrospect Finley's work can be seen as the seed of the present flowering of anthropologically-related studies of ancient Greek culture and society".[7]
Following the example ofKarl Polanyi, Finley argued that the ancient economy should not be analysed using the concepts of modern economic science, because ancient man had no notion of the economy as a separate part of society, and because economic actions in antiquity were determined not primarily by economic, but by social concerns. This text was later criticized by, amongst others, Kevin Greene,[8]who argues that Finley underplays the importance of technological innovation, and C. R. Whittaker,[9]who rejects the concept of a "consumer city".
Finley was also the editor of numerous volumes of essays on ancient history.
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| Preceded by | Professor of Ancient History, Cambridge University 1970–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master ofDarwin College, Cambridge 1976–1982 | Succeeded by |
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