Franz Brentano 1838 – 1917
Franz Brentano was a German-Austrian philosopher, a former Catholic priest, and the teacher of Husserl, Meinong, Stumpf, Twardowski, and many other founders of twentieth-century philosophy. His Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint reintroduced into modern philosophy the medieval thesis that mental phenomena are characterized by their directedness toward an object, a thesis he called intentional in-existence. From this starting point a generation of his students developed phenomenology, the theory of objects, and analytic philosophy of mind.
Key facts
- Nationality
- German-Austrian
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Continental, Phenomenology
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“Every mental phenomenon is characterized by what the Scholastics of the Middle Ages called the intentional in-existence of an object.”
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“Mental acts are always directed at something.”
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“What is true is true regardless of who or how many believe it.”
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“We know that there is something rather than nothing because we are conscious.”
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“Love and hate are the proper subject matter of ethics.”