Per Arvid Ingemar Hedenius (5 April 1908 – 30 April 1982) was a Swedish philosopher. He was Professor of Practical Philosophy at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

(1947–1973). He was a famous opponent of organised

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. The

Swedish Humanist Association Humanists Sweden ( sv, Humanisterna) is the largest humanist/ rationalist organisation in Sweden with about 4,500 members. It is a member organisation of Humanists International (HI) and the European Humanist Federation (EHF). Humanists Swed ...

, known in Sweden as "Humanisterna", offers the Ingemar Hedenius Award each year to support humanist ideas and critical thinking.

Background

Hedenius' grandfather Per Hedenius (1828–1896) was a famous professor of

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

and for a while

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. His father Israel Hedenius (1868–1932) was in 1900 a doctor of medicine and teacher of medical practice, and in 1927 was appointed personal physician to the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...

. Hedenius' mother, born Anna Bergh, was from an upper class Norwegian family. The two married in 1905 and had three children: Per (1905), Ingemar and Ann Marie (1909). Both parents were very

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

. Ingemar took the entrance examination for the

Norra Latin Norra Latin is the familiar Swedish name of a historic Stockholm school more properly known as ''Högre allmänna läroverket för gossar å Norrmalm'' ("public senior secondary school for boys at Norrmalm"). Completed in 1880, for over a hun ...

school in 1927. After he completed

upper secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

he studied at

where he wrote his doctoral thesis ''Sensationalism and theology in Berkeley's philosophy'', discussing the philosophy of

George Berkeley George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...

. On 8 June 1979 Hedenius received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the Faculty of Theology at

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Svante Nordin Per Svante Gudmund Nordin (born April 18, 1946) is a Swedish historian of ideas and author. He is a professor of history of ideas at Lund University. With his dissertation ''Interpretation and method. Studies in the explication of nature'' (197 ...

, professor of history of science and ideas at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion ..harsh both in writing and in speech with enemies and opponents, gentle and sensitive with his friends." Hedenius was from 1957 till 1960 publisher of the bimonthly magazine Kulturkontakt, a publication of the CIA-backed Congress of Cultural Freedom and the Svenska kommittén för kulturens frihet (Swedish Committee for Cultural Freedom)."USA paid for propaganda in Sweden in the 1950s?". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 22 November 2016.

Belief and knowledge

Hedenius became best known for his book '' Tro och vetande'' (''Belief and Knowledge''), published in 1949. This book started off one of the most wide-ranging cultural debates ever in

. The debate was about the truthfulness of the teachings of Christianity and also about the position of the church in society. He rejected organised Christianity, especially the established role of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

. In ''Belief and Knowledge'' he described three

postulates An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement (logic), statement that is taken to be truth, true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that whi ...

which

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

does not comply with, to show that it is not possible to have a rational debate about religion. According to Hedenius this means that theology can not be classed as knowledge, but belongs outside it as "quasi-knowledge": *The religion-psychology postulate: A religious belief contains metaphysical assumptions which science can neither verify nor falsifyfor example, assertions of the existence of God, or the immortality of the soul. *The language-theory postulate: It must be possible to communicate the religious comprehension and experience even to non-believers. *The logic postulate: Two truths cannot contradict each other. Of two contradictory statements, at most one can be true. Theology not only contains theses which contradict what we know about reality (contrary to the religion-psychology postulate) but also accepts inner contradictionsfor example, the oldest and according to Hedenius also insoluble

problem of evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyclope ...

. Hedenius was of the opinion that Christianity violates these rules and is therefore irrational. Amongst other things, he proposed that the study of religions and their development should be separated from theology and become a non-religious academic discipline.

Works

* ''Om rätt och moral'' (1941) * ''Om praktisk filosofi'' (1948) * ''Tro och vetande'' (1949) * ''Att välja livsåskådning'' (1951) * ''Tro och livsåskådning'' (1958) * ''Helvetesläran'' (1972) * ''Samtal med Ingemar Hedenius'' (in part with Sven Ragne Carlson) (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedenius, Ingemar 1908 births 1982 deaths People from Uppsala Municipality Uppsala University faculty Critics of Christianity Swedish atheists Swedish atheism activists Burials at Uppsala old cemetery Analytic philosophers 20th-century Swedish philosophers