problematic ideas, concepts, and theories have been rejected and abandoned in favor of the less problematic and even new ideas. On the other hand, the development and change over time of a system of ideas might again only be possible to understand if one knows the systematic structure, methodological principles, and philosophical standpoints intrinsic to the system itself - that is, knows the purely philosophical reasons for the alteration of premisses, the redefinition of concepts, and the acceptance of new ideas and standpoints. What must be added is that, the historical and philosophical standpoints do not necessarily exclude one another which in fact is impossible. On the contrary, they complement and supplement one another as well as filling the gaps of a comprehensive description of a subject matter, and do so regardless of whether the general account is “historical” or “philosophical.” One could go so far as to say that the absolute division of science and epistemological understanding of reality into “historical” and “philosophical” investigations constitutes a misnomer, as reality and facts appear to be just what they are and nothing more, whereby the terms “historical” and philosophical” become merely technical terms used to refer to different aspects of a whole. This means that the predominantly temporally determined factors of change and permanence must be surpassed, but not circumvented, by the philosophical issues of logic, systematization, consistency, and so forth. Hence, in order to identify the leading dogmatic principles of Hägerström’s philosophy one cannot avoid proceeding inductively, examining facts, and asking certain questions.What has changed over time? What has not changed over time?What is recurrent?What are the fundamental characteristics that recur or are common throughout the changes in his philosophy? What are the characteristics that can be observed during different periods of his philosophy?Which characteristics of his philosophy wither away as time goes by? The goal of the inductive avenue of research is to identify the leading principles p a r t 1 , i n t r o d u c t i o n 26
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