People Are Born Equal - a Historical Approach to Objectivity

Kristian Keto, The Nordic Sociological Association

This paper examines objectivity and knowledge in the context of the 19th century political argumentation in the Nordic countries. Scientific approach to society emerged, based largely on sciantia scientiarum among the leading scholars. However, political solutions differed related to human values. According to Immanuel Kant, the only conceivable thing without qualification is a good will, and the rule “Act on principles through which you can will a universal law” makes fundamentals of his categorical imperative. Greek philosophy, and the doctrine of the equality of all men from Christianity, was the core of education. “When man perceives that the reality in which he lives does not correspond to the direction of his mentality, he must strive to recreate the outside world in harmony with his inner world” wrote a Finnish philosopher J.V. Snellman in 1851. Swedish C.J. Boström, “the Nordic Plato”, strived for dikaiosune and feared Aristotelian ochlocracy. Snellman, and his contemporaries M.J. Monrad in Norway, and Boström in Sweden were educated in German philosophical tradition. Their influence in education and political life was overwhelming. The harmony between the outside world and the inner world was realized through political processes. Pursuing knowledge, in epistemological sense and understood as going beyond the mere possession of information, already in the 19th century was essential in achieving reality and truth. In the Nordic countries Kant and G.W.F Hegel exerted huge influence in politics, hence the congruous ideas of common will and individual wills, and ability to act on principles. Awareness of social conditions increased, and theorization with the use of statistics and empirical methods advanced. Societal consolidation meant duties, but also political rights. In 1860-1880 major questions in parliaments were military and educational reforms. There was questing after objectivity in reforms. Arguments supported by scientific views from parliamentary debates in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

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 Presented in Session 175. Educational Reforms and Transformations: Selected Experiences from Nordic Countries