cism, the problem is that while it criticizes and doubts the possibility of objective knowledge, it is nevertheless a theory simultaneously claiming to express objective knowledge. In other words, in order to objectively deny the possibility of objective knowledge, skepticism must proceed in an objectively valid manner, which constitutes a contradictio in adiecto. Hence, the skeptical position cannot be any more certain than any other epistemological position, and we know this for certain. According to skepticism, knowledge per se is intrinsically problematic, which is due to the following line of reasoning (a critique that also has some bearing on Hägerström’s own theoretical foundations): It is obvious that every reality is identical with itself, but this does not allow the conclusion that it is therefore possible to deduce a factual truth from the principle of identity. Identity itself does not necessarily lead us to the establishment of factual truths.The law of identity is a logical law, an analytic judgment, expressing the formal relations between two judgments, while truth expresses a synthetic judgment, expressing the material correspondence between a judgment and a set of facts or observations.55 According to Hägerström, the skeptical standpoint contains a flaw, which has its roots in the skeptical position’s premiss and the conclusions deduced from this premiss, namely that it is impossible to bridge the gap between the assumption of the validity of the law of identity and the law of identity itself!The paradoxical conclusion of skepticism, but also the dilemma of epistemology in general, is this: “Knowledge of the principle of identity and, on the basis thereof, [knowledge of] the inability of consciousness to extend beyond itself to the assumption of the thing is real - yet, we are still excluded from all forms of knowledge.”56 In short, how do we obtain knowledge? a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 185 55 Cf. ibid. 56 Ibid., p. 51. My translation. Swedish: “Kunskapen om identitetsprincipen och, med stöd därav, om medvetandets oförmåga att komma över sig själv i antagandet av saken är verkligen för handen och dock är vi uteslutna från allt vad kunskap heter.”
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