In1925 professor Hägerström characterized his own philosophy as mainly dealing with three areas of philosophy - epistemology, moral philosophy, and legal philosophy.178 This characterization is quite interesting because it shows: a) the importance that he attributed to epistemology; and b) the consequences that this epistemological emphasis has when applied to other fields of philosophy and to specific fields of science. His philosophy can be summarized as being based upon the following principles: 1) The assumption that reality is a unified, consistent, and logical totality;179 2) The assumption that all intelligible ideas presuppose a spatio-temporal reality;180 3) The theory that propositions and judgments always predicate the reality of the proposition’s object;181 4) The idea that knowledge cannot transcend physical reality;182 And 5) that the law of contradictions defines reality, which therefore is free from contradictions.183 In accordance with Hägerström’s philosophy, in order to be, or to become, meaningful, correct, or proper judgments invariably must refer to reality and therefore necessarily have similar properties as those of reality. Logic, epistemology, and ontology thus have definite relap a r t i i i 228 The Leading Principles of Hägerström’s Scientific Work chap te r 4 178 Hägerström, “Hägerström.”; “The Philosophy of Axel Hägerström.” 179 See Hägerström, Selbstdarstellungen, p. 22. 180 Hägerström, “Hägerström.”; “The Philosophy of Axel Hägerström.” 181 Hägerström, “Hägerström.”; “The Philosophy of Axel Hägerström.” 182 Hägerström, “‘Ein Stein ...’”. 183 Hägerström, Selbstdarstellungen, pp. 9-10.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=