Hägerström holds that the rejection of subjectivism, even though the consequence is that the object becomes standard for knowledge, does not limit the independence of consciousness in relation to the object. The cognitive interdependence between subject and object is determined as follows:According to the new definition, the object is no longer to be understood as entirely external and inaccessible to consciousness, which metaphysical philosophy on the contrary postulates.66 (Compare Kant’s critique of the dogmatic mistake.) Hägerström’s ontology holds that both the subject and object exist in the same physical realm of reality, whereby correspondence between the two becomes possible, thus making judgments of reality possible. In fact, a necessary precondition to Hägerström’s philosophy of knowledge is that the object is directly accessible to the subject, which, however, transcendentalism denies. To Hägerström, the object is thus not absolutely “external” in relation to the subject, existing on another plane of reality than the subject does; the object is thus not in its own (external) reality inaccessible to the subject.67 Historically, the idea of the inherent inaccessibility of the object is shared by realists and idealists alike, regardless of their fundamentally different opinions regarding the actual nature of reality and that of the things in themselves.68 One could thus go so far as to say that Hägerström’s critique of metaphysics is directed at their epistemologies, which surreptitiously subscribe a principle of non-correspondence as their respective truth criteria.Had realists and idealists maintained their non-correspondence theory of truth, then their epistemological nihilism and solipsism would have been manifest. However, practical needs have forced realists and idealists systematically to deviate from their tacit principle of non-correspondence. In conclusion, Hägerström’s critique of the metaphysical standa ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 55 66 Ibid., p. 5. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid.
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