Memoir of Axel Hägerström

Abstract

Axel Anders Hagerström (1868–1939) evolved from a background of strict Lutheran orthodoxy and evangelical pietism into a pivotal figure in Swedish philosophy and legal theory. His intellectual development was marked by a decisive transition from theology to philosophy at Uppsala University, where he challenged the then-dominant Boströmian idealism. Hagerström’s work is characterized by a radical critique of metaphysics and the development of a non-cognitive, “value-nihilistic” analysis of moral and legal concepts. He argued that moral judgments and legal obligations do not represent objective truths or expressions of will but are instead emotional responses and social-psychological facts. This perspective laid the foundation for the Uppsala school of legal realism, exerting a significant influence on Scandinavian jurisprudence through his detailed historical studies of Roman law and his role as a mentor to prominent scholars. Despite early academic opposition, Hagerström eventually secured the chair in practical philosophy at Uppsala, where he applied his analytical methods to social movements and the philosophical foundations of modern physics. His scholarship represents an independent parallel to the rise of analytic philosophy in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, maintaining that the role of philosophy is the objective analysis of concepts rather than moral or religious prescription. – AI-generated abstract.