empirical evidence) logically speaking must be true and objectively valid. So for Hägerström the term objective is to be understood in the sense of that which can be objectively asserted given a certain set of facts and circumstances. Objectivity thus has a weaker meaning than one could expect; objectivity is a function of, and relative to, supporting facts; objectivity only predicates the a posteriori validity of a synthetic concept. Accordingly, Hägerström’s theory of objectivity implies that objectivity should be understood as being the specific set of explanations that objectively, logically as well as empirically, explains more than any other competing explanation.This is what Hägerström calls the “scientific world view”,315 which in turn can be designated as a principle of epistemological parsimony. A corollary to the idea that objective knowledge constitutes one, exclusive and coherent body of knowledge corresponding to external, objective reality is furthered if the principle of parsimony is applied on a general level, thus excluding all dualism in ontology as well as epistemology. In a short article entitled “Ein Stein, Ihr Herren, ist ein schlechtes Argument” (1934) Hägerström outlined the boundaries of human cognition in a manner effectively denying the possibility of philosophical dualism, as follows: p a r t i 1 , c h a p t e r 5 142 5. 1 the princi ple of par s imony: one world, one real i ty, one context 315 Petersson, Värdeteori, pp. 24-25. Cf. Hägerström, Selbstdarstellungen, pp. 13-15; “Ett Hägerström brev,” pp. 88-91. See also Hägerström’s concept of “relative Subjektivierung”, see, e.g., 5.2, below. “1:o. One cannot have knowledge of that which is outside of space and time. Provided that one presupposes human consciousness, a condition without which it becomes meaningless to investigate anything, one further presupposes the existence of time and space. For humans, it is said, can only exist in time and space. But then no separate spiritual or eternal reality would be conceivable. Such realities would exist together with the realities of time and space, but since such eternal realities are logically elevated above time and space, such a relationship cannot exist.
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