Hjalmar Magnus Eklund (12 January 1880 – 10 June 1937) was the first Finnish expert in mathematical logic and philosophy and also a pioneer in the

Ido language Ido () is a constructed language derived from a reformed version of Esperanto, and designed similarly with the goal of being a universal second language for people of diverse languages. To function as an effective ''international auxiliary ...

Life and career

Eklund was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

in 1880, the son of a sea captain. He was very talented in many areas. He studied mathematics, physics and philosophy at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, and graduated MA in 1903. He focused on set theory, and became the first Finnish expert in logic, which was then a new area. In 1906, he worked at the linguistic department of the university where he became interested in languages. From 1906 to 1918, Eklund worked as a teacher in different high schools in

and

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

. Around the same time he continued his studies and graduated with a master's degree in philosophy in 1911. He also studied in Germany in 1909 and 1910 in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, mathematics, philosophy in Leipzig in 1913 and 1914 again philosophy in Göttingen. His most important works of that time were “Russells antimoni och andra paradoxala motsägelser. Logiska undersökningar” (1916), and “Über Mengen, die Elemente ihrer selbst sind” (1918).

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

's philosophy in ethical thinking was a major influence on Eklund. The members of the

Vienna Circle The Vienna Circle () of logical empiricism was a group of elite philosophers and scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic and mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of Vienna, chaired by Moritz Sc ...

Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

Moritz Schlick Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick (; ; 14 April 1882 – 22 June 1936) was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. He was murdered by a former student, Johann Nelböck, in 1936. Early ...

, and

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

's philosophy was familiar to him. Hjalmar Eklund was an atheist. He wrote critically but objectively in anti-religious articles. In 1906, he was involved in founding the Student Association Prometheusta and later became a member of the Committee of statehood, freedom of religion. In addition, Hjalmar Eklund was a socialist and a journalist. In the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

, Eklund was imprisoned for participation in the rebellion, but he was released in November 1918. In 1919, Eklund became a Democrat in Turku, later a Socialist. There he wrote several articles on artificial languages including Ido. Later in 1919, Eklund formed the Finnish Workers' Educational Association (STL), and became its secretary. In 1926 he returned to Helsinki and worked for an insurance company until 1933. Hjalmar Eklund died in 1937 in

Pargas Pargas () is a town and municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea, the biggest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, 50,000. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry and except for the central parts, t ...

, only 57 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eklund, Hjalmar 1880 births 1937 deaths 20th-century Finnish philosophers Linguists from Finland Logicians 20th-century Finnish mathematicians People from Turku Finnish atheists 20th-century Finnish linguists 20th-century Finnish journalists