On the 14 February 2020, Germany lost one of its great metaphysical thinkers, as well as one of its finest scholars of classical antiquity, Jens Halfwassen. Born just outside Cologne (Bergisch Gladbach) in North Rhine-Westphalia on 16 November 1958, the future Cusanus expert attended the Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium in a fitting indication of things to come. From there he went on to study at the University of Cologne with Karl Bormann and Klaus Düsing, completing the first Staatsexamen in 1985 (Philosophy, History, Classics and Pedagogy). The volumes resulting from his doctorate (Der Aufstieg zum Einen. Untersuchungen zu Platon und Plotin. The Ascent to the One. Investigations on Plato and Plotinus) and habilitation (Hegel und der spätantike Neuplatonismus. Untersuchungen zur Metaphysik des Einen und des Nous in Hegels spekulativer und geschichtlicher Deutung. Hegel and late-antique Neoplatonism. Investigations on the Metaphysics of the One and of the Intellect in Hegel’s Speculative and Historical Interpretation) both ran into multiple editions. After a brief spell as professor at Munich (1997-98) and visiting professor at Tübingen (1998-99), he took up a professorship at Heidelberg in 1999. Several important works followed, including a volume of collected articles (Auf den Spuren des Einen. Studien zur Metaphysik und ihrer Geschichte. On the Traces of the One. Studies on Metaphysics and its History, 2015).