Brentano and the Positive Philosophy of Comte and Mill

With Translations of Original Writings on Philosophy as Science by Franz Brentano

Ion Tănăsescu, Alexandru Bejinariu, Susan Krantz Gabriel, Constantin Stoenescu

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9783110734881
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

Before now, there has been no comprehensive analysis of the multiple relations between A. Comte's and J.S. Mill's positive philosophy and Franz Brentano's work. The present volume aims to fill this gap and to identify Brentano's position in the context of the positive philosophy of the 19th century by analyzing the following themes: the concept of positive knowledge; philosophy and empirical, genetic and descriptive psychology as sciences in Brentano, Comte and Mill; the strategies for the rebirth of philosophy in these three authors; the theory of the ascending stages of thought, of their decline, of the intentionality in Comte and Brentano; the reception of Comte's positivism in Whewell and Mill; induction and phenomenalism in Brentano, Mill and Bain; the problem of the "I" in Hume and Brentano; mathematics as a foundational science in Brentano, Kant and Mill; Brentano's critique of Mach's positivism; the concept of positive science in Brentano's metaphysics and in Husserl's early phenomenology; the reception of Brentano's psychology in Twardowski; The Brentano Institute at Oxford. The volume also contains the translation of the most significant writings of Brentano regarding philosophy as science.

I. T?n?sescu, Romanian Academy; A. Bejinariu, Romanian Society of Phenomenology; S. Krantz Gabriel, Saint Anselm College; C. Stoenescu, University of Bucharest.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Comte, Mill, and Brentano on the Intellectual Status of Philosophy and Its Relationship to History
• Comte on Psychology: The Criticism of “Inner Observation” and the Constitution of the “Systematic View of the Soul”
• Franz Brentano and Auguste Comte: The Theory of Stages and the Psychology
• Comte and Brentano: Elements for a Theory of Decline
• Can We Have Scientific Knowledge About God? Brentano on Comte’s Metaphysical Skepticism
• Intentionality and the Classification of Phenomena and Sciences in Comte’s Cours de Philosophie Positive and in Brentano’s Empirical Psychology
• Brentano’s View about Natural Science and Methodological Phenomenalism. A Comparison with John Stuart Mill’s Approach
• The Reception of Positivism in Whewell, Mill and Brentano
• Franz Brentano’s Multifaceted View of Induction in Empirical and Genetic Psychology
• Hume’s “Bundle of Perceptions” and the “Problem of the I” in Brentano’s Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint
• Brentano’s Mathematical Foundation of Science
• Franz Brentano on the Errors of Mach’s Positivism: Psychology, Metaphysics, Logic
• On the Brentanian Legacy in Twardowski’s Views on Psychology
• Descriptive and Intentional Contents. Considerations on Husserl’s Logical Investigations from Brentano’s Empirical Point of View
• Brentano’s Four Phases and the Rise of Scientific Philosophy in the Light of His Relation to His Students
• Brentano in Exile: The Brentano Institute at Oxford
• Appendix: The Idea of Philosophy as Science in Brentano
• Index