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Alexius Ritter von Handschuchsheim Meinong

The Austrian philosopher Alexius Meinong, Ritter von Handschuchsheim (1853-1920), made important contributions to the general theory of reference and to the understanding of values.

Alexius Meinong was born in Lemburg, Poland, but his family soon returned to Austria. All his formal education was in Vienna, first at the Academic Gymnasium and then at the university, where in 1874 he took his degree in history and philosophy. Like the other important figures in Austrian philosophy, he then came under the influence of Franz Brentano. Brentano encouraged him to study David Hume, and in due course Meinong produced two books on the English philosopher. His philosophical apprenticeship was thus in the tradition of British empiricism, and his subsequent work owes more to this tradition than to any German philosopher.

Meinong taught at Vienna as a lecturer for four years (1878-1882) and then moved to Graz, where he taught for the remainder of his life. The major event of his long tenure at Graz was his founding of the Institute of Experimental Psychology, the first such institution in Austria.

Meinong's most original contribution to philosophy is his theory of objects. His starting point is that the theory of objects is too narrowly construed. There is a general tendency in philosophy to deal only with those objects which exist and, moreover, a tendency in commonsense thinking to equate the existent object with material entities. Against these two tendencies Meinong argues that there is an important distinction between talking about nonexistent objects and talking about nothing. It is, for example, possible to sort out true and false statements about Santa Claus, and this could not be the case if the name denoted nothing at all. What it denotes is an object with quite definite properties ("lives at the North Pole," "drives reindeer") which does not happen to exist. In general, says Meinong, it is always possible to distinguish the characteristics of an object (sosein) from its being (sein). This principle allows him to introduce highly imaginative discussions of impossible objects, incomplete objects, defective objects, inclusive objects, and the like.

In a posthumously published book, On the Foundations of the General Theory of Values (1924), Meinong extends his theory to ethics and esthetics. Here he tries to show that values are objects which we apprehend through various modes of feeling. He then attempts to provide criteria for situations in which these feelings could be said to be correct or incorrect, appropriate or inappropriate.

Even though Meinong's work is still largely unread, it has had considerable influence on English philosophy through the interpretations of Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore. More recent work indicates that these early interpretations were defective and that Meinong may yet receive a more adequate hearing.

Further Reading

J. N. Findlay, Meinong's Theory of Objects and Values (1933; 2d ed., 1963), is a largely sympathetic exposition, but some criticisms are added together with a brief biographical sketch and an overall assessment of Meinong's significance. Gustav Bergmann, Realism: A Critique of Brentano and Meinong (1967), offers a full-length appraisal.

Additional Sources

Lindenfeld, David F., The transformation of positivism: Alexius Meinong and European thought, 1880-1920, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Alexius Meinong, Ritter (knight) von Handschuchsheim

(born July 17, 1853, Lemberg, Galicia, Austrian Empire — died Nov. 27, 1920, Graz, Austria) Austrian philosopher and psychologist. He taught at the University of Graz from 1889 until his death. Like his teacher Franz Brentano, Meinong considered intentionality, or object-directedness, to be the basic feature of mental states. He maintained that objects of thought have a kind of character or nature (Sosein; sometimes rendered "subsistence") that is distinct from being, or existence (Sein), which they may lack; thus the golden mountain or the round square "subsist" as objects of thought, though they do not exist in the world of sense experience. Meinong's view briefly influenced Bertrand Russell. His major writings include On Possibility and Probability (1915) and On Emotional Presentation (1917).

For more information on Alexius Meinong, Ritter (knight) von Handschuchsheim, visit Britannica.com.

 
Philosophy Dictionary: Alexius von Meinong

Meinong, Alexius von (1853-1920) Austrian psychologist and philosopher. A pupil of Brentano at the university of Vienna, Mein-ong taught at Graz from 1882 until his death. He there established a laboratory for experimental psychology, and in the tradition of Brentano his philosophical interests derived very largely from the problems of establishing a satisfactory psychology. Meinong's most famous doctrine derives from the problem of intentionality, which led him to countenance objects, such as the golden mountain, that are capable of being the object of thought, although they do not actually exist. This doctrine was one of the principal targets of Russell's theory of definite descriptions. However, it came as part of a complex and interesting package of concepts in the theory of meaning, and scholars are not united in supposing that Russell was fair to it. Meinong's works include Über Annahmen (1907, trs. as On Assumptions, 1983) and Über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit (1915).

 
Wikipedia: Alexius Meinong
Alexius Meinong
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Alexius Meinong

Alexius Meinong (July 17, 1853 - November 27, 1920) was an Austrian philosopher.

Life

Meinong was born in Lemberg, Austria (now L'viv in Ukraine) and died in Graz, Austria. He studied at the Academic Gymnasium, Vienna and later the University of Vienna, where he read history and philosophy as a pupil of Franz Brentano. He was professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Graz, where he founded the Graz psychological institute (in 1894) and the Graz School of experimental psychology.

Meinong supervised the promotion of Christian von Ehrenfels (founder of Gestalt psychology), as well as the habilitation of Alois Höfler and Anton Oelzelt-Newin.

Work

Meinong wrote two books on David Hume, the first dealing with his theory of abstraction, the second with his theory of relations; Meinong was relatively strongly influenced by British empiricism.

He is most noted, however, for his Theory of Objects (Über Gegenstandstheorie, 1904), which grew out of his work on intentionality and his belief in the possibility of intending nonexistent objects. The 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 that do not exist, they must have some sort of being; the "place" that such things exist has been nicknamed Meinong's jungle.

Historically, Meinong has been treated as an eccentric who was dealt a well-deserved death blow in Bertrand Russell's famous essay On Denoting, especially by Gilbert Ryle. However, Russell himself spoke (and wrote) highly of the vast majority of Meinong's work. Further, Meinongians such as Terence Parsons and Roderick Chisholm established the consistency of a Meinongian theory of objects, while others (e.g., Karel Lambert) have defended the usefulness of such a theory.

Meinong is also controversial in the field of Philosophy of Language for his views on existence. Meinong posits that "existence" is merely a property of an object, just as color or mass might be a property. Thus, according to Meinong, a figure such as Sherlock Holmes would lack the property of existence, just as Sherlock Holmes lacks the property of being a female.

Theory

Modalities of Being

Meinong distinguishes three modalities of being:

  • Existence (Existenz, verb: existieren), or actual reality (Wirklichkeit), which denotes the material being of an object
  • Subsistence (Bestand, verb: bestehen)
  • Being-given (Gegebenheit, as in the German use es gibt, i.e. "there are", "it is given").

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 the minimal mode of being; all objects are at the very least "given" and this mode of being does not have a negation. Indeed, if somebody were to negate the being of an object or affirm the non-being (Nichtsein) of the object, we would have the paradox that it would have to "be-given" in order to negate it.

The object and the acts of the subject

Meinong distinguishes four classes of "objects":

  • "Object" (Objekt), which can be real (like notes in a melody) 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
  • "Dignitative", e.g. the true, the good, the beautiful
  • "Desiderative", e.g. duties, ends, etc.

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.

Literature

Primary

Books

  • Meinong, A. (1885). Über philosophische Wissenschaft und ihre Propädeutik
  • Meinong, A. (1894). Psychologisch-ethische Untersuchungen zur Werttheorie
  • Meinong, A., ed. (1904). Untersuchung zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie
  • 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. and 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 Verlagsgesellschaft, Graz.
  • Meinong, A. (1965). Philosophenbriefe, ed. Kindinger, R., Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.

Secondary

Books

  • Albertazzi, L., Jacquette, D., and Poli, R., editors (2001). The School of Alexius Meinong. Ashgate, Aldershot. ISBN 1-84014-374-6
  • Chisholm, R. (1982). Brentano and Meinong Studies. Rodopi, Amsterdam.
  • Dölling, E. (1999). Wahrheit Suchen und Wahrheit Bekennen. Alexius Meinong: Skizze seines Lebens. Rodopi, Amsterdam - Atlanta. ISBN 90-420-0774-5
  • Findlay, J. N. (1963). Meinong's Theory of Objects and Values, 2nd ed. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  • Grossman, R. (1974). Meinong. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London - Boston. ISBN 0-7100-7831-5
  • Haller, R., editor (1972). Jenseits von Sein und Nichtsein. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.
  • Lindenfeld, D. F. (1980). The Transformation of Positivism: Alexius Meinong and European Thought, 1880-1920. University of California Press, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London. ISBN 0-520-03994-7
  • Rollinger, R. D. (1993). Meinong and Husserl on Abstraction and Universals. Number XX in Studien zur Österreichischen Philosophie. Rodopi, Amsterdam – Atlanta. ISBN 90-5183-573-6
  • Routley, R. (1982). Exploring Meinong's Jungle and Beyond. Ridgeview Pub Co. ISBN 978-0685056363. (Also published as Routley, R. (1979) by the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.)
  • Schubert Kalsi, Marie-Luise (1978). Alexius Meinong: On Objects of Higher Order and Husserl's Phenomenology. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands. ISBN 90-247-2033-8

Articles

  • Chrudzimski, A. (2005). "Abstraktion und Relationen beim jungen Meinong". In [Schramm, 2005], pages 7–62.
  • Dölling, E. (2005). "Eine semiotische Sicht auf Meinongs Annahmenlehre". In [Schramm, 2005], pages 129–158.
  • Kenneth, B. (1970). "Meinong’s Hume Studies. Part I: Meinong’s Nominalism". in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 30:550–567.
  • Kenneth, B. (1971). "Meinong’s Hume Studies. Part II: Meinong’s Analysis of Relations". in PPR, 31:564–584.
  • Rollinger, R. D. (2005). "Meinong and Brentano". In [Schramm, 2005], pages 159–197.
  • Schermann, H. (1972). "Husserls II. Logische Untersuchung und Meinongs Hume-Studien I. In [Haller, 1972], pages 103–116.

Journals

  • Schramm, A., editor (2005). Meinong Studies - Meinong Studien, Vol. I, Ontos Verlag. (yearly periodical)

See also

External links


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