Ritter Meinong von Handschuchsheim (1851) – Gerd Hruška

Alexius Meinong

Ritter Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above "Edler" and below "Freiherr" (Baron). As with most titles an ...

von Handschuchsheim (17 July 1853 – 27 November 1920) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, a realist known for his unique

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

. He also made contributions to

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

and theory of value.

Life

Alexius Meinong's father was officer Anton von Meinong (1799–1870), who was granted the hereditary title of

in 1851 and reached the rank of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1858 before retiring in 1859. From 1868 to 1870, Meinong studied at the Akademisches Gymnasium,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1870, he entered the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

law school where he was drawn to

Carl Menger Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün (; ; 28 February 1840 – 26 February 1921) was an Austrian economist and the founder of the Austrian School of economics. Menger contributed to the development of the theories of marginalism and marginal utility ...

's lectures on economics. In summer 1874, he earned a doctorate in history by writing a thesis on Arnold of Brescia. It was during the winter term (1874–1875) that he began to focus on

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. Meinong became a pupil of

Franz Brentano Franz Clemens Honoratus Hermann Josef Brentano (; ; 16 January 1838 – 17 March 1917) was an influential German philosopher, psychologist, and former Catholic priest (withdrawn in 1873 due to the definition of papal infallibility in matters of F ...

, who was then a recent addition to the philosophical faculty. Meinong would later claim that his mentor did not directly influence his shift into philosophy, though he did acknowledge that during that time Brentano may have helped him improve his progress in philosophy. Meinong studied under Brentano with

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

, who would also become a notable and influential philosopher. Both their works exhibited parallel developments, particularly from 1891 to 1904. Both are recognized for their respective contribution to philosophical research. In 1882, Meinong became a professor at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

and was later promoted as Chair of its Philosophy department. During his tenure, he founded the Graz Psychological Institute (Grazer Psychologische Institut; founded in 1894) and the

Graz School The Graz School (german: Grazer Schule), also Meinong's School, of experimental psychology and object theory was headed by Alexius Meinong, who was professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Graz where he founded the Graz Psychological ...

of experimental psychology. Meinong supervised the doctorates of

Christian von Ehrenfels Christian von Ehrenfels (also ''Maria Christian Julius Leopold Freiherr von Ehrenfels''; 20 June 1859 – 8 September 1932) was an Austrian philosopher, and is known as one of the founders and precursors of Gestalt psychology. Christian von Eh ...

(founder of ''Gestalt'' psychology) and Adalbert Meingast, as well as the

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

Alois Höfler Alois Höfler (April 6, 1853 – February 26, 1922) was an Austrian philosopher and university professor of education in Prague and Vienna. He was seen by the logical positivist Otto Neurath as an important link between Bernard Bolzano's work a ...

and Anton Oelzelt-Newin.

Work

Ontology

Meinong wrote two early essays on

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

, the first dealing with his theory of

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or "concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstr ...

, the second with his theory of relations, and was relatively strongly influenced by

British empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiri ...

. He is most noted, however, for his edited book ''Theory of Objects'' (full title: ''Investigations in Theory of Objects and Psychology'', german: Untersuchungen zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie, 1904), which grew out of his work on

intentionality ''Intentionality'' is the power of minds to be about something: to represent or to stand for things, properties and states of affairs. Intentionality is primarily ascribed to mental states, like perceptions, beliefs or desires, which is why it ha ...

and his belief in the possibility of intending

nonexistent object An object of the mind is an object that exists in the imagination, but which, in the real world, can only be represented or modeled. Some such objects are abstractions, literary concepts, or fictional scenarios. Closely related are intentional ob ...

s. Whatever can be the target of a mental act, Meinong calls an "object." His theory of objects, now known as "Meinongian object theory," is based around the purported empirical observation that it is possible to think about something, such as a golden mountain, even though that object does not exist. Since we can refer to such things, they must have some sort of being. Meinong thus distinguishes the "being" of a thing, in virtue of which it may be an object of thought, from a thing's "existence", which is the substantive ontological status ascribed to—for example—horses but not to unicorns. Meinong called such nonexistent objects "homeless"; others have nicknamed their place of residence "

Meinong's jungle Meinong's jungle is the name given by Richard Routley (1980) to the repository of non-existent objects in the ontology of Alexius Meinong. Overview Meinong, an Austrian philosopher active at the turn of the 20th century, believed that since non- ...

" because of their great number and exotic nature. Historically, Meinong has been treated, especially by

Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle (19 August 1900 – 6 October 1976) was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." He was a representative of the generation of British ord ...

, as an

eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...

whose theory of objects was allegedly dealt a severe blow in

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

's essay " On Denoting" (1905) (see

Russellian view In metaphysics and the philosophy of language, the round square copula is a common example of the dual copula strategy used in reference to the problem of nonexistent objects as well as their relation to problems in modern philosophy of language. ...

). However, Russell himself thought highly of the vast majority of Meinong's work and, until formulating his

theory of descriptions The theory of descriptions is the philosopher Bertrand Russell's most significant contribution to the philosophy of language. It is also known as Russell's theory of descriptions (commonly abbreviated as RTD). In short, Russell argued that the ...

, held similar views about nonexistent objects. Further, recent Meinongians such as

Terence Parsons Terence Dwight Parsons (1939-2022) was an American philosopher, specializing in philosophy of language and metaphysics. He was emeritus professor of philosophy at UCLA. Life and career Parsons was born in Endicott, New York and graduated from th ...

and

Roderick Chisholm Roderick Milton Chisholm (; November 27, 1916 – January 19, 1999) was an American philosopher known for his work on epistemology, metaphysics, free will, value theory, and the philosophy of perception. The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ...

have established the consistency of a Meinongian theory of objects, while others (e.g.,

Karel Lambert Karel Lambert (born 1928) is an American philosopher and logician at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Salzburg. He has written extensively on the subject of free logic, a term which he coined. Lambert's law Lambert's law ...

) have defended the uselessness of such a theory. Meinong is also seen to be controversial in the field of

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...

for holding the view that "

existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontology, ontological Property (philosophy), property of being. Etymology The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval ...

" is merely a property of an object, just as

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

might be a property. Closer readers of his work, however, accept that Meinong held the view that objects are "indifferent to being"Meinong, A. "The Theory of Objects" in ''Realism and the Background of Phenomenology'', ed. Roderick Chisholm (Glencoe, Ill: Free Press, 1960). p. 86. and that they stand "beyond being and non-being". On this view Meinong is expressly denying that existence is a property of an object. For Meinong, what an object is, its real

essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

, depends on the properties of the object. These properties are genuinely possessed whether the object exists or not, and so existence cannot be a mere property of an object.Albertazzi, L., Jacquette, D., & Poli, R., eds., ''The School of Alexius Meinong'' (Abingdon-on-Thames, Routledge, 2017), p. 502.

Types of objects

Meinong holds that objects can be divided into three categories on the basis of their ontological status. Objects may have one of the following three modalities of being and non-being: * Existence (''Existenz'', verb: ''existieren''), or actual reality (''Wirklichkeit''), which denotes the material and temporal being of an object * Subsistence (''Bestand'', verb: ''bestehen''), which denotes the being of an object in a non-temporal sense. * Absistence or being-given (''Gegebenheit'', as in the German use ''es gibt'', i.e. "there are", "it is given"), which denotes being an object but not having being. Certain objects can exist (mountains, birds, etc.); others cannot in principle ever exist, such as the objects of mathematics (numbers, theorems, etc.): such objects simply subsist. Finally, a third class of objects cannot even subsist, such as impossible objects (e.g. square circle, wooden iron, etc.). Being-given is not a minimal mode of being, because it is not a mode of being at all. Rather, to be "given" is just to be an object. Being-given, termed "absistence" by J. N. Findlay, is better thought of as a mode of non-being than as a mode of being. Absistence, unlike existence and subsistence, does not have a negation; everything absists. (Note that all objects absist, while some subset of these subsist, of which a yet-smaller subset exist.) The result that everything absists allows Meinong to deal with our ability to affirm the non-being (''Nichtsein'') of an object. Its absistence is evidenced by our act of intending it, which is logically prior to our denying that it has being.

Object and subject

Meinong distinguishes four classes of "objects": * Object (''Objekt''), which can be real (like horses) or ideal (like the concepts of difference, identity, etc.) * Objective (''Objectiv''), e.g. the affirmation of the being (''Sein'') or non-being (''Nichtsein''), of a being-such (''Sosein''), or a being-with (''Mitsein'')—parallel to existential, categorical and hypothetical judgements. Objectives are close to what contemporary philosophers call states of affairs (where these may be actual—may "obtain"—or not) * Dignitative, e.g. the true, the good, the beautiful *

Desiderative In linguistics, a desiderative (abbreviated or ) form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X". Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological derivation. Desiderative mood is a kind of ...

, e.g. duties, ends, etc.Lapointe, S., ed., ''Philosophy of Mind in the Nineteenth Century: The History of the Philosophy of Mind'', Vol. 5 (

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historic counties of England, Historically the ...

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 2019)
pp. 209–210
To these four classes of objects correspond four classes of psychological acts: * (Re)presentation (''das Vorstellen''), for objects * Thought (''das Denken''), for the objectives * Feeling (''das Fühlen''), for dignitatives * Desire (''das Begehren''), for the desideratives

Bibliography

Books

* Meinong, A. (1885). ''Über philosophische Wissenschaft und ihre Propädeutik''. * Meinong, A. (1894). ''Psychologisch-ethische Untersuchungen zur Werttheorie''. * Meinong, A. (1902). ''Über Annahmen'', 1st ed. * Meinong, A., ed. (1904)
''Untersuchungen zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie''
(''Investigations in Theory of Objects and Psychology''), Leipzig: Barth (contains Alexius Meinong, "Über Gegenstandstheorie", pp. 1–51). * Meinong, A. (1910). ''Über Annahmen'', 2nd ed. * Meinong, A. (1915). ''Über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit''. * Meinong, A. (1917). ''Über emotionale Präsentation''.

Articles

* Meinong, A. (1877). "Hume Studien I. Zur Geschichte und Kritik des modernen Nominalismus", in ''Sitzungsbereiche der phil.-hist. Classe der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften'', 78:185–260. * Meinong, A. (1882). "Hume Studien II. Zur Relationstheorie", in ''Sitzungsbereiche der phil.-hist. Classe der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften'', 101:573–752. * Meinong, A. (1891). "Zur psychologie der Komplexionen und Relationen", in ''Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane'', II:245–265. * Meinong, A. (1899). "Über Gegenstände höherer Ordnung und deren Verhältniss zur inneren Wahrnehmung", in ''Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane'', 21, pp. 187–272.

Books together with other authors

* Höfler, A., & Meinong, A. (1890). ''Philosophische Propädeutik. Erster Theil: Logik''. F. Tempsky / G. Freytag, Vienna.

Posthumously edited works

* Haller, R., Kindinger, R., and Chisholm, R., editors (1968–78). ''Gesamtausgabe'', 7 vols.,

Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt :''There also were unrelated publishing houses in Stuttgart and in (East-)Berlin, and there is the (JAVG).'' The Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) is an Austrian book publisher in Graz that specialises primarily in publishing lavis ...

, Graz. * Meinong, A. (1965). ''Philosophenbriefe'', ed. Kindinger, R., Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.

English translations

* ''On Assumptions'' (''Über Annahmen''), trans. James Heanue. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. * ''On Emotional Presentation'' (''Über emotionale Präsentation''), trans. M.-L. Schubert Kalsi. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press, 1972. * "The Theory of Objects" ("Über Gegenstandstheorie"), trans. I. Levi, D. B. Terrell, and R. Chisholm. In ''Realism and the Background of Phenomenology'', ed. Roderick Chisholm. Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview, 1981, pp. 76–117.

Notes

External links

*

*
Alexius Meinong's page on the Mathematics Genealogy Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meinong, Alexius 1853 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Austrian writers 19th-century essayists 20th-century Austrian philosophers 20th-century Austrian writers 20th-century essayists Abstract object theory Austrian essayists Austrian knights Austrian Roman Catholics Catholic philosophers Continental philosophers Epistemologists Metaphysicians Ontologists People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Philosophers of history Philosophers of language Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophy academics Philosophy writers Academics of the University of Graz University of Vienna alumni Writers from Lviv

Life

Work

Ontology

Types of objects

Object and subject

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Books together with other authors

Posthumously edited works

English translations

See also

Notes

Further reading

Books

Articles

Journals

Podcasts

External links