Larsson, Hans

Born Feb. 18, 1862, in Östra-Klagstorp, Skåne; died Feb. 16, 1944, in Lund. Swedish philosopher and writer. Professor at the University of Lund from 1901 to 1927.

Larsson’s philosophy was based on the ideas of German classical idealism (I. Kant and H. Fichte). He saw the ultimate form of cognition as intuition—a concrete “contemplation” of reality as a whole. However, for Larsson, unlike Bergson, intuition was not placed in opposition to logical thought but was itself seen as a higher form of the intellectual process. In his later works (on Plato and Spinoza; 1910–1930’s), Larsson characteristically turns to Platonism. He was much concerned with problems of aesthetics, psychology, pedagogy, the philosophy of culture, social life, and politics; he spoke out against war and fascism. Larsson also wrote novels and lyric poems that reflected the unique daily customs and traditions of his native province.