Dag Østerberg (9 November

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

– 22 February

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

) was a Norwegian sociologist, philosopher and musicologist. He was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

to police officer Erling Østerberg and Jørgine Sofie Kleven. He was a central contributor to the so-called

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

debate in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1981 to 1991 he was appointed professor in sociology at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. Among his works are ''Metasosiologisk Essay'' from 1963, ''Makt og materiell'' from 1971, and a biography of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

from 1993. His 1966 work '' Forståelsesformer. Et filosofisk bidrag'' (Forms of Understanding: A Philosophical Contribution) was selected for the

Norwegian Sociology Canon The Norwegian Sociology Canon ( no, Norsk sosiologisk kanon) is an award presented from 2009 to 2011 to 25 nonfiction texts that are considered to have had the greatest influence on sociology in Norway. The list of works was published in the journal ...

in 2009–2011.

References

1938 births 2017 deaths People from Trondheim Norwegian sociologists Norwegian philosophers Norwegian musicologists Academic staff of the University of Oslo {{Norway-sociologist-stub