From Psychology To Phenomenology: Franz Brentano’s Psychology From An Empirical Standpoint And Contemporary Philosophy Of Mind

From Psychology to Phenomenology This page intentionally left blank From Psychology to Phenomenology Franz Brentano’s Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint and Contemporary Philosophy of Mind Biagio G. Tassone © Biagio G. Tassone 2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-02921-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-1-349-44007-8 ISBN 978-1-137-02922-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137029225 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 To the loving memory of my father, Raffaele Tassone (1936–2011) This page intentionally left blank Meditation on the writings of Brentano is one of our most important intellectual obligations. – Xavier Zubiri El Porvenir de la Filosofia “Prologue”, 1936 This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments x List of Abbreviations xii Introduction 1 Part I 1 Brentano’s Intellectual Background 17 2 Brentano’s Aristotelianism and Early Writings on Aristotle 38 Part II 3 Psychology as a Science 77 4 “Intentional Inexistence” and the Separation of “Psychic” from “Physical” Phenomena 108 5 Psychic Acts Further Explored: The Unity of Consciousness and Brentano’s Classification of Mental Acts 136 6 Brentano’s Theory of Judgment and the Connection of Feelings and Acts of Will 158 Part III 7 From Psychology to Phenomenology: Brentano and Contemporary Philosophy of Mind 191 8 The Intentional Dynamic and Phenomenology: The Relevance of Brentano’s Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind 221 Conclusion 247 Notes 251 Bibliography 309 Index 323 ix Acknowledgments I first read Brentano’s Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt in the early 1990s as an undergraduate at York University in Toronto, Canada. In researching term papers and conducting background reading for the philosophy courses of David Jopling and Mildred Bakan, I came across the English translation of the Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. The PES left a lasti