Franz Brentano Quotes
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. The quotes below are attributed to Franz Brentano, organized by topic.
Browse Franz Brentano by topic
Franz Brentano on Knowledge
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“Was klein ist im Beginn wird oft am Ende überaus groß sein. Und so geschieht es, das wer im Anfange auch nur um ein Weniges von der Wahrheit abweicht, im Verlauf immer weiter und weiter und zu tausendmal größern Irrthümer fortgeführt wird.”
What is at first small is often extremely large in the end. And so it happens that whoever deviates only a little from truth in the beginning is led farther and farther afield in the sequel, and to errors which are a thousand times as large.
Franz Brentano on Love
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Attributed to Franz Brentano:
“Love and hate are the proper subject matter of ethics.”
Franz Brentano on Mind
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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.”
Franz Brentano on Truth
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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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“What is at first small is often extremely large in the end. And so it happens that whoever deviates only a little from truth in the beginning is led farther and farther afield in the sequel, and to errors which are a thousand times as large.”
Was klein ist im Beginn wird oft am Ende überaus groß sein. Und so geschieht es, das wer im Anfange auch nur um ein Weniges von der Wahrheit abweicht, im Verlauf immer weiter und weiter und zu tausendmal größern Irrthümer fortgeführt wird.