Brentano, Franz

(1838–1917)

German philosopher and psychologist. His teaching at the universities of Wurzburg and Vienna may be regarded as the foundation of the phenomenological movement in philosophy. Brentano became a priest in 1864 but left the Church in 1873. His major work was Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt (1874, trs. as Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, 1973) which rehabilitates the medieval concentration upon the ‘directedness’ or intentionality of the mental as a fundamental aspect of thought and consciousness. Brentano also wrote on theological matters, and on moral philosophy, where the directedness of emotions allows a notion of their correct and incorrect objects, thus permitting him a notion of moral objectivity.