Peter Finke is a former professor of linguistics and the philosophy of science at the University of Bielefeld and of evolutionary cultural ecology at the University of Witten-Herdecke, Germany.
Professor Finke's research focuses on the transdisciplinary interaction of linguistics, the philosophy of science and cultural ecology. In the seventies and eighties, he put forward seminal books and papers on the philosophy of science in general and the philosophy of linguistics in particular. Since the nineties, he has been one of the most renowned pioneers of ecolinguistics and cultural ecology. Professor Finke is an internationally recognized scholar in his fields of research whose outstanding achievements are widely acknowledged.
In 1990, Professor Finke initiated a contract of cooperation between the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature of the University of Bielefeld and the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen (then known as Kossuth University). It is due to his activity that since then there has been an intensive exchange of doctoral students and professors between the two faculties, along with joint research projects of international relevance.
He was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Debrecen in 2004.