Brentano and Meinong

Abstract

The present chapter will deal with the contributions to axiology and axiological ethics of Franz Brentano (1838–1917) and Alexius Meinong (1853–1920), both of whom illuminated valuation and value by placing it in the context of a truly profound, magnificently elaborated philosophy of mind. The work of both philosophers, like that of Christian von Ehrenfels, another value-theorist of the period (System der Werttheorie — System of Value-Theory — 1897–8), is associated with Austria: Brentano’s most brilliant period of teaching was in Vienna, Meinong created and operated a small philosophical school at Graz, while von Ehrenfels taught for many years at Prague. There is something characteristically Austrian about all their work, a neat accuracy together with a fighting shy of the murky enthusiasm and the ill-justified comprehensiveness of the typical Germanic ‘system’.