Hans Ruin

Hans Waldemar Ruin (18 June 1891 – 3 November 1980) was a Finnish philosopher and writer of Swedo-Finnish extraction.^[1]

Ruin was the son of Professor Waldemar Ruin and Flora Henrika Lindholm. He married Karin "Kaisi" Sievers (1894) in 1917, daughter of physician Richard Sievers and Freifrau Karin von Bonsdorff. He had two children, Martina and Olof, and is maternal grandfather to David and Marika Lagercrantz. His grandchild was also named Hans Ruin and became a philosopher.

Ruin graduated from Nya Svenska Läroverket in 1909. He received his Candidate of Philosophy degree from the University of Helsinki in 1913, followed by his Licentiate in 1921 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1923. His academic dissertation was titled Erlebnis und Wissen. He worked as a librarian at the Helsinki University Library from 1912 to 1930. He became a docent of psychology at the University of Helsinki (1927–1936), and later of art and literary psychology (1936–1949). From 1945 to 1947, he also served as professor of philosophy at Åbo Akademi University.^[2]

Ruin was a varied writer, who authored works on topics ranging from continental philosophy to art and literature, as well as autobiographical pieces. Analytical philosophy, an increasingly dominating subject within philosophy at the time, felt foreign to him however. This was one of the reasons why he left Finland and moved to Sweden to pursue the study of aesthetics. Subsequently he obtained Swedish citizenship.^[3]

His time in Sweden began as a Nordic docent fellow at Stockholm University College (1944–1945) and Lund University (1945–1947). He subsequently became a docent of aesthetics at Lund University from 1947 to 1952, and was a research docent there from 1952 to 1957. Ruin was also active in several cultural organizations. He was a contributor to the journal Nya Argus from 1920 to 1946, chairman of the Finnish PEN club from 1930 to 1931, a board member of the Society of Swedish Writers in Finland(1934–1945), serving as its chairman in 1936 and again from 1944 to 1945. He also served on the board of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland from 1934 to 1946.^[2]

Svenska kulturfonden sponsored an award in 2003 called the Hans Ruin essay contest for essay writers. The contest is arranged every three years.

• Hallberg Prize, 1937
• Society of Swedish Literature in Finland Prize, 1944
• Dobloug Prize, 1957
• Samfundet De Nio's grand prize, 1962
• Sydsvenska Dagbladet's cultural award, 1963
• Falcken Prize, 1970

• Krigets anlete (1919)
• Erlebnis und Wissen. Kritischer Gang durch die englische Psychologie (1921)
• Nutidskonst i psykologisk belysning (1923)
• Själens försvarsproblem (1929)
• Gycklare och apostlar (1934)
• Poesiens mystik (1935)
• Väl mött, Europa! (1938)
• Makt och vanmakt (1940)
• Rummet med de fyra fönstren (1940)
• Ett land stiger fram (1941)
• Det finns ett leende (1943)
• Arvid Mörne. Liv och diktning (1946)
• Jarl Hemmer. En minnesteckning (1946)
• I konstens brännspegel (1949)
• Drömskepp i torrdocka (1951)
• Sju ögonblick och några reflexioner (1952)
• Hem till sommaren (1960)
• Det skönas förvandlingar (1962)
• Den mångtydiga människan (1966)
• Världen i min fickspegel (1969)
• Höjder och stup hos Ibsen och några andra (1971)
• Uppbrott och återkomst. Dagboksblad 1933–1973 (1977)

As editor

• Festskrift tillägnad Yrjö Hirn den 7 december 1930 (co-editor with Gunnar Castrén and K.S. Laurila, 1930)

• Wrede, Johan. "Hans W Ruin". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. Swedish National Archives. urn:sbl:7022. Retrieved 20 May 2023.