Alf Ahlberg
Alf Robert Bertil Ahlberg (born October 21, 1892 in Laholm ; † January 29, 1979 ) was a Swedish writer , humanist and philosopher .
Life
Alf Ahlberg was the son of the priest Axel Ahlberg and his wife Anna Lindskog and brother of the architect Hakon Ahlberg . Ahlberg graduated from the University of Lund in 1911 with a degree in philosophy and received his doctorate in 1917 with the treatise problem of matter in Platonism : Plato , Aristotle , Plotinos , Bruno: a historical-critical study . He then worked for the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet for a few years , meanwhile helping out as an adjunct in Södermalm and working as a lecturer at the workers' institute. On the side he often wrote articles for Dagens Nyheter . In 1927 he became a teacher at the Brunnsvik Adult Education Center and in 1932 was promoted to its rector . He held this position until his retirement in 1959. In 1933 Ahlberg married the landowner's daughter Edith Larsson. After her death in 1944, he married Rut Davidsson in 1946.
Ahlberg became known for his scientific and philosophical works. De sociala och politiska myterna (German: The social and political myths) of 1937 attracted a lot of attention . Among other things, it deals with Nazi propaganda and mythology . In Flykten från ensamheten (German: Escape from loneliness) from 1949 he examines why modern man was so receptive to propaganda.
Filosofins historia I-VI (German: History of Philosophy, Vol. 1–6) is one of his debut works. It was the first of its kind and was sold in multiple editions (the last revised edition was published in 1967). 1935 appeared Psykologiens historia (German: History of Psychology). Ahlberg also wrote several biographies about Augustine , Bertil Malmberg , Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, for example , and translated José Ortega y Gasset's Der Aufstand der Massen . Ahlberg's work pervades a deep criticism of the biological naturalism of his time. He advocated a humanism in Hans Larsson's socialist interpretation tradition and Christianity . For Ahlberg, the western world and Christianity were a unit. He saw communism and National Socialism as a threat to their basic values, but as a necessary consequence of naturalism. Communism and National Socialism were understood by him as primitive materialism , primitive collectivism and primitive subjectivism . If everything came about through the laws of nature, stupidity and malice would also be useful, said Ahlberg.
His autobiography Minnen och meditationer from 1942 is a symbolic representation of his intellectual experiences and development, in keeping with the zeitgeist. Ahlberg also wrote poems that were very popular among his students.
Works (selection)
- Filosofiens historia (1925-28)
- Tankelivets frigörelse (1934)
- Minnen och meditationer (1942)
- Tankelivets frigörelse (German: The Liberation of Thought , 1945)
- Basic questions in psychology: The letter school (1949-50)
- Troende utan tro: Religösa sökare i vår tid (1966)
Prizes and awards
- Culture Prize of the publisher Natur och Kultur 1974
Web links
- Literature by and about Alf Ahlberg in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ahlberg, Alf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ahlberg, Alf Robert Bertil (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish writer, humanist and philosopher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Laholm |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 1979 |