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The unpublished “History of Philosophy” (1866–1867) by Franz Brentano

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Abstract

There are many difficulties with the existing interpretation of Brentano’s works. The problem stems from the fact that Brentano’s works, letters, manuscripts, memoir’s, etc. remain unpublished or undiscovered. Moreover some Brentano’s scholars, namely Kastil and Mayer-Hillebrandt, were incorrect in their method in publishing the philosopher’s works. Namely, they misinterpreted his earlier works by incorporating numerous interpolations from different time periods as being the philosopher’s final thoughts. More importantly, as evidenced by Antonio Russo’s recent discovery, they also failed to realise the fact that Brentano’s own theoretical views or works were mostly based on Aristotle and Thomas thoughts on metaphysics, that Brentano’s main intention was to develop a scientific demonstration on this topic, and that this issue occupied his mind until his death.

It is hoped that this paper goes some way in resolving the said errors and coupled with the continue discovery of new material that the jigsaw of Brentano’s works and thinking shall someday be correctly completed.

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Notes

  1. For a general introduction to the above questions see Smith 1994; Albertazzi et al. 1996; Poli 1998.

  2. Brentano 1963, p. XII:

    «Dem vorliegenden Band ist, wie gesagt, der Vorlesungstext Brentanos zugrundegelegt. Wenn in den Anmerkungen von kleinen Ergänzungen aus dem Kolleg Kastils oder aus Ueberwegs Geschichte der Philosophie I gesprochen wird, so handelt es sich um geringfügige Änderungen, einerseits durch Ausführung der im Original zuweilen nur in Schlagworten angedeuteten Gedanken, andererseits durch Hinzufügung von Jahreszahlen, Zitate u. dgl. [...] Nur ganz vereinzelt wurden Änderungen vorgenommen, um die Darstellung dem letzten Stand der Lehren Brentanos anzupassen. [...] Einige Male wurden zur Ergänzung Stellen aus anderen Schriften Brentanos herangezogen, was in den Anmerkungen angegeben ist».

  3. Srzednicki 1962, p. 308.

  4. See Srzednicki 1962, p. 308.

  5. See Srzednicki 1962, p. 309 and p. 315.

  6. See Mayer-Hillebrand 1963, especially p. 440: «Such an undertaking would have covered several volumes, and could only have been a badly arranged tangle of countless problems which would have repelled even those readers who are really interested in Brentano’s philosophy».

  7. See Mayer-Hillebrand 1963, particularly her conclusion p. 441: «So far as this point is concerned, I would prefer to leave the decision about this to Brentano himself and to adhere to his instructions».

  8. Mayer-Hillebrand 1963, p. 443.

  9. Srzednicki 1963, p. 445.

  10. Brentano 1963, p. 372: «nach dem Originalmanuskript mit geringfügigen Ergänzungen aus Brentanos Aristoteles und seine Weltanschauung und aus Ueberwegs Grundriß der Geschichte der Philosophie I».

  11. Brentano, 1963, p. 379: «Die unter Anführungszeichen gesetzte Stelle stammt aus Brentanos Aristoteles und seine Weltanschauung S. 136 f. Der Originaltext der im vorliegenden Bande enthaltenen Vorlesung über die Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie schließt sich noch Brentanos früherer, in der Psychologie des Aristoteles (S. 197 ff.) und in Über den Creatianismus des Aristoteles (1882) vertretenen Interpretation über die Entstehung des Menschen an».

  12. On the question of Brentano’s posthumously published writings, see also McAlister 1982, pp. 1–2 :

    «Unfortunately, Brentano’s ethical writings have never been presented in such a way that this development from the earlier to the later period would be apparent. On the contrary, the manner in which Brentano’s ethical works have been edited serves to obscure the fact that there was such a development rather than exhibit this fact. Only one work on ethics was published during Brentano’s lifetime, his lecture Vom Ursprung sittlicher Erkenntnis, wherein he expounds what I shall call his earlier ethical theory. His later moral philosophy [...] was not set out by Brentano in any published or polished form. It can, however, be pieced together from references in letters and in papers from his extensive Nachlass. It is also reflected in a work published posthumously under the title Grundlegung und Aufbau der Ethik. It is the form of editing adopted for this book which does so much to obscure the development of Brentano’s ethics. The text is basically that of Brentano’s lectures on ethics delivered at the University of Vienna between 1876 and 1894, and so it represents in a more detailed form than does Ursprung Brentano’s early ethical philosophy. But Professor Mayer-Hillebrand and Professor Alfred Kastil, who worked on this material before her, have chosen to incorporate into his early text Brentano’s later ethical views as well, and they have apparently tried to edit out all those sections of the early text which do not agree with these later views. In short they have tried to turn an early text into a later one by virtually rewriting it in places. The resulting book is, needless to say, somewhat misleading, for it gives the impression that Brentano had expouned the same ethical theory throughout his life».

    Recently, Chrudzimski 2001, p. 3: «Zusammengefasst: wir glauben, daß erst durch die Berücksichtigung der unpublizierten Manuskripte die eigentliche Natur der Konzeption Brentanos geklärt und die Fragen bezüglich ihrer Entwicklung beantwortet werden können. Dies herauszustellen ist das erste Ziel unserer Arbeit» («In short: we believe that only with the consideration of the unpublished handwritings the real nature of Brentano’s conception can be elucidated and only in this way the questions regarding their development can be answered. To emphasize this is the first aim of our work»).

    Finally, Albertazzi 2006, p. 1: «Apart from the few texts published by Brentano during his liftime, his writings—and especially those published posthumously by his pupils—are in parlous state. And at the moment there seems to be no way out of the impasse». See also p. 342: «The considerable arbitrariness of these constructs and the interpretative interpolations made by the editors have not generally benefited the understanding and diffusion of Brentano’s thought. In particular, collections of the posthumously-published essays and dictations have often adopted the method of interpreting earlier texts as anticipations of later ones.».

  13. On the german Neoscholasticism which influenced the young F. Brentano see Walter 1988. Particularly on Franz Jacob Clemens see pp. 134–139.

  14. The letter has been published nearly completely by Russo 2004, pp. 215–219.

  15. Russo 2004, p. 217: «Es ist also in keiner Weise möglich auf der Summa der Theologie, wie auf einer glückseligen Insel, sitzen zu bleiben [...]».

  16. Russo 2004, pp. 218–219: «Dies gilt insbesondere von dem Theil, der sich mit den Prinzipien der Erkenntnis befasst u. den schon Aristoteles im IV Buche seiner Metaphysik behandelt, die aber noch vielmehr in der neueren Zeit das Gebiet philosophischer Erörterungen wurde, um mich eines modernen Ausdrucks zu bedienen, von dem transcendentalen Theile der Metaphysik. Er ist gewissermassen eine Analogie zu dem, was die Apologetik für die Dogmatik ist, die Apologetik der Vernunft gegenüber dem Skepticismus u. Kriticismus, die aber weit entfernt bloss widerlegend zu sein manche ganz bedeutende positive Ergebnisse liefert und eine fruchtbare Behandlung der Ontologie wesentlich vorbereitet. Es ist wohl nicht ohne innern Zusammenhang, dass S. Thomas gerade diese beiden hier u. dort einander entsprechenden Theile der wesentlichsten Disciplin auf philos. u. theol. Gebiete gemeinsam vernachlässigt hat. Er strebte nach einem wenigstens vorläufigen Abschlusse des Ganzen. Das grossartige Gesamtbild wollte er vor sich sehen, die genaue Ausführung, theils emendierend theils besser begründend, möchte dann die Zukunft geben. So schritt er in Philos. u. Theol. über den apologetischen Theil hinweg zur positiven Darlegung des Systems fort, zumal in einer weniger als die unsre zum Skeptizismus u. Unglauben geneigten Zeit».

  17. In the denomination itself of this preliminary part of the philosophical research, in its being an apologetics of the reason against scepticism and criticism, the allusion to I. Kant is evident. In the handwritten Geschichte der Philosophie of WS 1866/67, in the pages dedicated to Kant, we read: «Er (Kant) hat sich schwer an der Phil.(osophie) versündigt, solche Verwirrung, daß sie sich nicht mehr zurecht finden konnte; gerade dadurch, daß er auf der einen Seite Sceptiker ist und den Schein nüchterner Prüfung hat, auf d.(er) anderen Seite ganz sonderbare extravagante Behaupt(un)gen aufstellt. Seine Phil.(osophie) ist, wie er sagt, kritisch. Was heißt kritisch? Er giebt nicht Kritik s(eine)r Vorgänger, obwohl er das auch manchmal thut, allein nicht darum nennt er sie so, sondern als Kritik des Erk.(enntnis)vermögens; oder Transzendentale Philosophie» («He (Kant) has severly sinned against the philosophy; such a confusion, that it couldn’t find any more it’s way; just because he is a sceptic on the one hand and has the appearance of a temperated control, on the other hand he makes really strange extravagant statements. His philosophy is—as he says—critic. What means critic? He doesn’t give critic of his predecessor, even if he does it sometimes, only not for that reason he nominates them in this way, but as critic of intellectual power; or transcendental philosophy ») Brentano 1866/67, pp. 879–880.

    And so also in the Transzendentalphilosophy: «Ein solcher Einfluss und zwar ein sehr mächtiger gerade in unserer Zeit. Das skeptische Stadium hatte gerade in der 3ten Periode sehr namhafte Vertreter, insbesondere Kant. Sein Kritizismus noch heute bei hervorragenden Denkern von Einfluß. Unsere Zeit braucht und sucht frühere Anknüpfungspunkte[...]» («such an influence, and an important one, just in our time. The sceptic stadium had in the third periode very famous supporters, particullary Kant. His criticism still nowadays influences important thinkers. Our time needs and seeks for earlier points of connection»). Brentano 1868, p. 31919.

  18. See Brentano 1868, p. 31919. The complete, accurate reproduction in photostat of the original microfilms of all the notes of the lectures given by Brentano in Würzburg, the Transzendentalphilosophie included, has been made possible thanks the friendly collaboration of the archivists of the "Handschriftenabteilung" of the Innsbruck University.

  19. See Brentano 1868, pp. 31764–31767.

References

A. Brentano’s works quoted in this paper:

  •  

1. Unpublished writings

  • Geschichte der Philosophie von Franz Brentano (WS 1866/67), handwritten bound volume (pp. 1–952) in the library of the Dominican Convent “St. Anna” of Graz (Austria)

  • Transzendentalphilosophie, Manuscript n. 96, 1868 (pp. 31753–31921), Universitätsbibliothek Innsbruck, Handschriftenabteilung

2. Edited by himself:

  • Die Psychologie des Aristoteles, insbesondere seine Lehre vom nous poietikos. Nebst einer Beilage über das Wirken des Aristotelischen Gottes, Mainz, Kirchheim 1867; anast. repr. Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1967

  • Von der mannigfachen Bedeutung des Seienden nach Aristoteles, Freiburg i. Breisgau, Herder’sche Verlagshandlung 1862, anast. repr. Hildesheim, Olms 1984

  • Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte, Leipzig, Duncker&Humblot 1874; 2. ed. with an introduction and annotations by O. Kraus, Leipzig 1924–25; repr. Hamburg, Meiner 1973

  • Aristoteles und seine Weltanschauung, Leipzig, Quelle&Meyer 1911; repr. ed. bz R. M. Chisholm, Hamburg, Meiner 1977

3. Edited by F. Mayer-Hillebrand:

  • Brentano F, Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie, Bern-München, Francke 1963; Meiner 1988

4. B. Critical Studies

  • Albertazzi L, Libardi M, Poli R (eds) (1996) The School of Franz Brentano. Kluwer, Dordrecht

  • Albertazzi L (2006) Immanent Realism. Springer

  • Chrudzimski A (2001) Intentionalitätstheorie beim frühen Brentano. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht/Boston/London

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  • Mayer-Hillebrand F (1963) A reply to Dr. Srzednicki, in «Philosophy and Phenomenological Research», XXIII, n. 3

  • McAlister L (1982) The development of Brentano’s ethics. Rodopi, Amsterdam

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  • Poli R (ed.) (1998) The Brentano Puzzle. Ashgate, Aldershot

  • Russo A (2004) Franz Brentano e Heinrich Denifle: alla scuola di Aristotele. In: La filosofia come santità della ragione. Scritti in onore di Xavier Tilliette. Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste

  • Smith B (1994) Austrian Philosophy, The Legacy of Franz Brentano. Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago—La Salle, Illinois

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  • Srzednicki JTJ (1962) Remarks concerning the interpretation of the philosophy of Franz Brentano, in «Philosophy and Phenomenological Research», XXII, n. 3

  • Srzednicki JTJ (1963) A reply to professor F. Mayer-Hillebrand, in «Philosophy and Phenomenological Research», XXXIII, n. 3

  • Walter P (1988) Die neuscholastische Philosophie im deutschsprachigen Raum. In: Coreth E, Neidl WM, Pfligersdorfer G, hrsg. von, Christliche Philosophie im katholischen Denken des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts. Bd. 2, Graz, Verlag Styria

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    Pietro Tomasi

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Tomasi, P. The unpublished “History of Philosophy” (1866–1867) by Franz Brentano. Axiomathes 17, 99–108 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-006-9006-4

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