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PHILOSOPHY.
439
But the
philosophical spirit in Sweden has
not only been sensitive
to the general evolution
of philosophy, and
retained a certain
independence in adopting the
results of that evolution;
it has also produced a
real national philosophy,
reflecting in thought the
innermost essence and
character of Swedish
culture. The characteristic
features of that culture
tend together to the
freedom and unbounded
development of the
individual, while, at the same
time, a well regulated
social order and a pure
and living religiousness is
preserved. Thus the
Swedish people combines in
its ideal of culture law
with liberty, and faith
with knowledge. It is
to this tendency that the
Swedish personal
philosophy gives a rational
expression. It has its
chief source in the
loving reverence for human
freedom and self-determination, for right and duty, and for man’s calling to eternal
life in truth and righteousness. The national Swedish philosophy is usually called
by the name of its real originator, the most independent and original systematizer
of Sweden, Kristofer Jakob Boström (born 1797, professor at Uppsala, dead
1866; his Works, edited by H. Edfeldt, are complemented by his Lectures on
Philosophy of Beligion and on Ethics, edited by S. Ribbing). The philosophy of
Boström can be understood and judged only in connection with the evolution of
philosophical science abroad and in Sweden. It probably had its origin, externally,
in the ideal sphere of Schelling, while, looked at from an internal point of wiew
and according to its actual bearings, it was prepared by that philosophical tendency
in Sweden whose promoters were the Uppsala professors N. F. Biberg (1776/1827),
S. Grubbe (1786/1853), and E. G. Geijer (1783/1847). The last mentioned, also
and above all the foremost historian of Sweden, takes in philosophy a special
position pretty distinct from that of the professional philosophers. His chief
philosophical work (Lectures on the History of Man, noted down and edited by
S. Ribbing) expounds the philosophy of history on the foundation of a deep,
metaphysical speculation, where the personal idea is the center.
The philosophy of Boström is expressed in a system which is clear, simple,
and gTand in its fundamental conception, original in its invention, and consistent,
though rather brief, in its execution. Its fundamental theoretical part breaks
with the constructional method of the pantheistic idealism of Germany, and un-
Kristofer Jakob Boström.
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