•  20
    A widespread view ties the unity and identity of the School of Brentano to Brentano’s well-known thesis that the true method of philosophy is none other than that of the natural sciences. As the story goes, this became the north star of his school and rallied the first students to his flag. However, it is equally well known that few of his students remained orthodox followers of his position and many founded their own schools and movements, to the point of eclipsing their common teacher. It is u…Read more
  •  8
    Christian von Ehrenfels
    with Robin Rollinger
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2015.
  •  25
    Brentano’s Mathematical Foundation of Science
    In Ion Tănăsescu, Alexandru Bejinariu, Susan Krantz Gabriel & Constantin Stoenescu (eds.), Brentano and the Positive Philosophy of Comte and Mill: With Translations of Original Writings on Philosophy as Science by Franz Brentano, De Gruyter. pp. 309-330. 2022.
    I examine Brentano’s strategic positioning between German Idealism and British Empiricism, exemplified by Kant and Mill, focusing on the idea of mathematics as foundational science. For Brentano mathematics is both logically and chronologically prior to all other sciences. However, the 1874 Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte does not give a complete enough picture of Brentano’s philosophy of mathematics, discussion of which must be based on textual evidence from his lecture notes and manusc…Read more
  •  31
    Both Alexius Meinong and Edmund Husserl wrote about relations in their early works, in periods in which they were still influenced by Franz Brentano. However, besides the split between Brentano and Meinong, the latter also accused Husserl of plagiarism with respect to the theory of relations. Examining Meinong’s and Husserl’s early works and the Brentanist framework they were written in, we will try to assess their similarities and differences. As they shared other sources besides Brentano, we w…Read more
  •  18
    The Beginnings of Husserl’s Philosophy, Part 2
    New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy 6 33-81. 2006.
    After discussing Husserl’s development from his years as student up to the publication of the _Philosophie der Arithmetik_ in 1891 in Part 1, we will now examine the various authors and theories that influenced Husserl at the time, starting with his mathematical background. Husserl began his studies in 1876 in Leipzig, attending “lectures in mathematics, physics, astronomy and philosophy” and continued with mathematics and philosophy in Berlin, where he studied under Karl Weierstrass and Leopold…Read more
  •  58
    What the present work aimed to achieve is an assessment of the origin an d unity of Husserl s Logical Investigations. My approach was to take the history of its development as fundamental for the determination of its basic structure. Therefore, I proceeded to analyse Husserl s development between the Philosophy of Arithmetic and Logical Investigations with re spect to the fundamental issues in the justification of knowledge in mathematics and logic. In Husserl s own words, one of the concerns tha…Read more
  •  96
    Das intentionale Objekt als Unding
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 100 (1-2): 113-130. 2023.
    The so-called “intentional object” occupies a central position in the debates about intentionality in Brentano and the Brentano School. How does it relate to the correlate, the content, or the intended, possibly external, transcendent object? Does it perhaps even coincide with one of these? There was no clear consensus on this neither in Brentano’s time nor today. In order to develop a new perspective on the problem of the intentional object, I would like to introduce a deliberately radical inte…Read more
  •  71
    Franz Brentano: Die intentionale Beziehung und die Bedeutung der Namen und Aussagen
    with Joelma Marques de Carvalho and Johannes L. Brandl
    Grazer Philosophische Studien 100 (1-2): 8-53. 2023.
    In this article I provide an overview of the many different terms that Brentano sometimes uses as synonyms or as explanations for “intentional inexistence”. The many terms associated with intentional inexistence appear in many different contexts, and we can conclude that Brentano uses these terms primarily to describe a property that is accidental and dependent on the subject from which it arises and with which it passes away. Ontologically, both properties and substances exist, but the former r…Read more
  •  35
    Like most of Franz Brentano’s students, Carl Stumpf showed an interest in the philosophy of mathematics. In particular, Stumpf wrote his habilitation thesis On the Foundations of Mathematics, used mathematical examples in central parts of his lectures, and later returned to the topic in the posthumously published Erkenntnislehre. I will try to show the development and the continuity of Stumpf’s position on the basis of his writings and (unpublished) lectures on logic and psychology, taking into …Read more
  •  51
    Christian von Ehrenfels on the mind and its metaphysics
    In Sandra Lapointe (ed.), Philosophy of mind in the nineteenth century, Routledge, Taylor & Francs Group. 2018.
    Christian von Ehrenfels’s foremost contribution to philosophy of mind is undeniably his seminal 1890 article on Gestalt qualities. This work is considered to have been a “watershed” (Smith 1988b, 15) and a “revolution” (Smith 1994, 20). Ehrenfels’ notion of Gestalt resonated not only with his contemporaries, in the School of Brentano and in phenomenology (see e.g. Heinämaa 2009), but it continues to inform cognitive science (see e.g. Wildgen 2001) and philosophy of mind. In this chapter I will o…Read more
  •  47
    Thinking the Impossible: The Gestalt of a Round Square
    In Arnaud Dewalque & Venanzio Raspa (eds.), Psychological Themes in the School of Alexius Meinong, De Gruyter. pp. 47-60. 2019.
    In this article I connect two concepts that played central roles in the School of Meinong: the notion of impossible objects and that of Gestalt. Ehrenfels claims that Widerspruch or incompatibility would be a temporal Gestalt quality, specifically the trying and failing to build an intuitive presentation. Where, when, and how does this process break down exactly? Meinong’s Graz students developed a more detailed production theory for the presentation of Gestalten (Vorstellungsproduktion) which c…Read more
  •  57
    This is the first publication and critical edition of Christian von Ehrenfels' dissertation on "Relations of Magnitude and Numbers. A Psychological Study", based on a new transcription by Reinhard Fabian.
  •  164
    The Reception of Husserlian Phenomenology in North America (edited book)
    with Michela Beatrice Ferri
    Springer Verlag. 2019.
    This book presents a historiographical and theorical analysis of how Husserlian Phenomenology arrived and developed in North America. The chapters analyze the different phases of the reception of Edmund Husserl’s thought in the USA and Canada. The volume discusses the authors and universities that played a fundamental role in promoting Husserlian Phenomenology and clarifies their connection with American Philosophy, Pragmatism, and with Analytic Philosophy. Starting from the analysis of how the…Read more
  •  57
    Herbert Spiegelberg: From Munich to North America
    In Michela Beatrice Ferri & Carlo Ierna (eds.), The Reception of Husserlian Phenomenology in North America, Springer Verlag. pp. 151-166. 2019.
    The chapter contains a brief intellectual biography of Herbert Spiegelberg, building on his numerous autobiographical remarks. It provides a survey of Spiegelberg’s early life and works and his German period, focusing more extensively on his American period. The chapter considers in some detail three important themes in Spiegelberg’s works. First, Spiegelberg’s role in spreading and developing the phenomenological method in the United States through the organization of his workshops, based on id…Read more
  •  56
    These five letters from Christian von Ehrenfels to Alexius Meinong contain a written record of how Ehrenfels' dissertation plans came about, based on his reading and commenting on Meinong's work.
  •  90
    A common analysis of Edmund Husserl’s early works on the philosophy of logic and mathematics presents these writings as the result of a combination of two distinct strands of influence: on the one hand a mathematical influence due to his teachers is Berlin, such as Karl Weierstrass, and on the other hand a philosophical influence due to his later studies in Vienna with Franz Brentano. However, the formative influences on Husserl’s early philosophy cannot be so cleanly separated into a philosophi…Read more
  •  118
    Brentano's Mind by Mark Textor
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 56 (4): 763-764. 2018.
    Marx Textor's Brentano's Mind begins with a short, illuminating introduction which clearly sets out the author's main aims. The two questions Textor wants to consider are, "What is the nature of mind?" and, "What is the structure of consciousness?" From the outset, Textor explicitly states that his intent is not to provide a historically plausible exegesis of "Brentano's often dense and difficult texts", but to take his "bold, suggestive, and influential" answers to these questions as an inspira…Read more
  •  67
    In seiner Kosmogonie bespricht Ehrenfels den Ursprung, die Entwicklung, und das endgültige Schicksal des Universums: die Gestalt der Welt. Einerseits ist sie ein Kosmos, ein Geschöpf des Ordnungsprinzips, andererseits ein Chaos, als Resultat des Prinzips des Zufalls und der Entropie. Diese beiden komplementären kosmischen Prinzipien generieren die Welt, welche nicht aus einem absichtlichen Willen, sondern einem blinden Gestalten hervorkommt. Nach Ehrenfels, nehmen wir Menschen Teil an dem Gestal…Read more
  •  54
    The present article provides a critical analysis of Christian von Ehrenfels’ dissertation Über Grössenrelationen und Zahlen. Eine psychologische Studie. As many other students of Brentano, Ehrenfels engaged repeatedly with the philosophy of mathematics, but until now his dissertation remained nearly completely unknown. Ehrenfels’ dissertation, however, fits perfectly within the Brentanist philosophy of mathematics and actually occupies an important place therein, precisely because it occurs outs…Read more
  •  69
    The concept of a Mannigfaltigkeit in Husserl has been given various interpretations, due to its shifting role in his works. Many authors have been misled by this term, placing it in the context of Husserl’s early period in Halle, while writing the Philosophy of Arithmetic, as a friend and colleague of Georg Cantor.Yet at the time, Husserl distanced himself explicitly from Cantor’s definition and rather took Bernhard Riemann as example, having studied and lectured extensively on Riemann’s theorie…Read more
  •  660
    Husserl and the Infinite
    Studia Phaenomenologica 3 (1): 179-192. 2003.
    In the article Husserl’s view of the infinite around 1890 is analysed. I give a survey of his mathematical background and other important influences (especially Bolzano). The article contains a short exposition on Husserl's distinction between proper and symbolic presentations in the "Philosophie der Arithmetik" and between finite and infinite symbolic collections. Subsequently Husserl’s conception of surrogate presentations in his treatise "Zur Logik der Zeichen (Semiotik)" is discussed. In thi…Read more
  •  103
    A Letter from Edmund Husserl to Franz Brentano from 29 XII 1889
    Husserl Studies 31 (1): 65-72. 2015.
    Among the correspondence between Husserl and Brentano kept at the Houghton Library of Harvard University there is a letter from Husserl to Brentano from 29 XII 1889, whose contents were completely unknown until now. The letter is of some significance, both historically as well as systematically for Husserl’s early development, painting a vivid picture of his relation and indebtedness to his teacher Franz Brentano. As in his letter to Stumpf from February 1890, Husserl describes the issues he had…Read more
  •  77
    On July 14, 1866 Franz Brentano stepped up to the pulpit to defend his thesis that “the true method of philosophy is none other than that of the natural sciences”. This thesis bound his first students to him and became the north star of his school, against the complex background of the progress and specialization of the natural sciences as well as the growth and professionalization of universities. I will discuss the project of the renewal of philosophy as science in the School of Brentano and …Read more
  •  76
    Introduction to Husserl’s Lecture On the Concept of Number (WS 1889/90)
    New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy 5 276-277. 2005.
    Among the various lecture courses that Edmund Husserl held during his time as a Privatdozent at the University of Halle (1887-1901), there was one on Ausgewählte Fragen aus der Philosophie der Mathematik (Selected Questions from the Philosophy of Mathematics), which he gave twice, once in the WS 1889/90 and again in WS 1890/91. As Husserl reports in his letter to Carl Stumpf of February 1890, he lectured mainly on “spatial-logical questions” and gave an extensive critique of the Riemann-Helmholt…Read more