define, or to place in physical reality without breaking the laws of logic, while the vague relation or concept is merely difficult to define in an absolutely unambiguous manner.229 This difference is important to bear in mind when reading Hägerström because he focuses his interest on the question of conceptual analysis (and the related areas of ontology, epistemology, and logic) rather than on questions of semantics or empirical research. In many aspects, his approach can thus be described as being formalistic rather than as empirical. He concentrates his efforts on testing the reality of different concepts rather than defining them through empirical research. However, the conceptual analysis gains factual importance as it distinguishes between the real and the unreal concepts, thus allowing him to conclude whether or not a concept can refer to physical reality. The theory of concepts espoused in Selbstdarstellungen differs from that of Das Prinzip derWissenschaft because the former only endows determinate concepts with the property of being determinate (and thus makes the concepts real, since Hägerström holds that determinate and real are identical concepts).230 The new theory does not presuppose the existence of any specific relationships between concepts based upon the intrinsic and commanding or prohibiting qualities of a specific concept vis-à-vis the intrinsic qualities of every other concept.The theory of Selbstdarstellungen is restricted to the task of setting forth an analytical method by which one can establish whether or not a concept is real, determinate, and non-contradictory. It does not set out a sysp a r t i 1 , c h a p t e r 3 108 3. 3. 7 summary and conclus ions (conce ptual theory) 229 See Hägerström, “B. o. F.,” p. 104. Here Hägerström points out the importance of making a distinction between logical indeterminateness and other forms of indeterminateness caused by the fact that no given or positive determinateness can express what a given object is, e.g., that Εcan be defined but that its exact numerical value cannot be given.The concept Εthus determinate, but vague. 230 Marc-Wogau, Studier till Axel Hägerströms filosofi, pp. 55-56. See also Hägerström, P. d.W., pp. 87-89; Selbstdarstellungen, p. 18.
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