it is not necessary to assume that a third something needs to be added to (a) and (b), and (ab) for this operation to be possible. It is, on the contrary, sufficient that the logical unity (ab) itself is noncontradictory, for (a) and (b) to form (ab), and consequently no preconceived ideas of (a’s) and (b’s) possible relationships to one another, or other concepts, or their unity as a compound concept are needed for the combination of (a) and (b) into the concept (ab) to be logically possible. The determinateness and reality of the different specific concepts, conceptual elements, that make up a “larger” or a compound/complex concept must therefore be understood to be independent of the determinateness of their sum (the determinateness of the compound concept), as well as independent of their mutual relationships towards one another.218 Separately the reality of (a) and (b) are thus neither functions of (ab’s) reality (non-contradictoriness) nor derivable from the inner consistency of the concept (ab) itself. Because if it was the case that (a) and (b) derived their reality from the determinate concept (ab), then it would also be possible to derive their un-reality from compound concepts that lack determinateness, whereupon the reality (non-contradictory character) of (a) and (b) would be highly uncertain. Hägerström’s conclusion is thus that every interpretation of the relationship between (a) and (b) implying that (a’s) and (b’s) reality are dependent upon (ab’s) reality is metaphysical.219 But this is the exact idea Hägerström advocates in Das Prinzip derWissenschaft, where he states that difference from other concepts is an intrinsic quality of the differentiated concepts themselves. The relationship between the different concepts does not constitute an external relationship, it is on the contrary an internal relationship.220 In Selbstdarstellungen no traces are left of this a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 103 218 Marc-Wogau,Studier till Axel Hägerströms filosofi, p.60;Hägerström, Selbstdarstellungen, p. 12. 219 Marc-Wogau,Studier till Axel Hägerströms filosofi, p.60;Hägerström, Selbstdarstellungen, p. 12. 220 Marc-Wogau, Studier till Axel Hägerströms filosofi, p. 61.
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