Background
Segelberg, Ivar Torstensson was born on January 10, 1914 in Hamosand.
Analytical philosopher: phenomenologist
Segelberg, Ivar Torstensson was born on January 10, 1914 in Hamosand.
Universities of U ppsala and Gothenburg, tnfts: Husserl. Broad, Phalen and Russell.
1951-1980, Professor of Theoretical Philosophy. University of Gothenburg.
In The Paradoxes of Zeno (1945) Segelberg presents several distinctions and phenomenological considerations which are of great interest not only in connection with Zeno’s paradoxes but also in many other contexts, for example the distinction between a collection and a complex unity, the classification of relations and the analysis of the naive conception of motion. The Concept of Property (1947) contains a new theory of the phenomenal quality relation and a detailed criticism of alternative theories. In the essay of 1951 the intentionality of an emotion is analysed, and all attempts to define this type of intentionality in causal terms are rejected. In Studies of Conciousness (1953) problems concerning the general structure of mental acts and the identity of the self are examined. ‘Some reflections on incompatible qualities' (1963) tries to show that the incompatibility of phenomenal colours is a special case of a general law which is neither a law of formal logic nor a natural law; the epistemological status of this law is discussed. Segelberg has been called ‘perhaps Sweden’s most original postwar philosopher. He was inspired by Husserl and by Broad and, to a lesser degree, by Phalen', later also by G. Bergmann. Throughout his life Segelberg’s philosophical reflection was stimulated by Russell’s distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. He was a very good amateur botanist, and he combined his philosophical and botanical interests in an unfinished work on the biological concept of species. Segelberg did not publish very much, but he was an inspiring teacher.