Franz Brentano: A first comprehensive intellectual biography

The German-Austrian philosopher Franz Brentano (1838-1917) is considered one the most influential philosophers of the late 19th and early 20th centuriew. He provided essential stimuli to both phenomenology and analytical philosophy. Among his students the so- called "Brentano School" are such eminent scholars as Carl Stumpf, Anton Marty, Edmund Husserl, Alexius Meinong, and Sigmund Freud. Even in contemporary philosophy, many of his ideas continue to receive significant attention. In addition to a critical edition of his extensive Nachlass, there is another desideratum in Brentano research, namely an (intellectual) biography of his entire life. In Brentano`s case, such a biography is crucial, since grave biographical events seriously affected his university career and intellectual development. Previous biographical attempts either failed or settled for partial aspects of Brentanos life, mainly due to the need for more sources. In 2019, the situation drastically changed when the Brentano family archive, previously privately owned, was transferred to the Brentano Archive in Graz as a long-term loan. The family archive contains more than 4,000 original letters to and from Brentano, providing entirely new insights into his life. This expanded source base now makes it possible for the first time to tackle a comprehensive biography of the philosopher from his beginnings in Bavaria through Vienna, Florence, and finally, Zurich. The project conceives Brentanos biography as an intellectual biography, i.e., it attempts to parallel the path of his life and the development of his philosophy and focuses on their interactions. In addition, the political and cultural background will also be taken into account. For example, the Kulturkampf in Bavaria, later in the German Reich, and its offshoots in Vienna, had great significance for Brentanos career. Brentano research has so far concentrated primarily on Brentanos efforts to overcome speculative idealism and to reform philosophy according to an empirical scientific method. In doing so, Brentanos early philosophical works and especially the formative influence of Catholicism on his intellectual and emotional development have been largely ignored. A primary goal of the project is, therefore, to overcome this deficit by, among other things, attempting to provide a clearer picture of Brentanos position in the crucial discussions concerning the so-called Neoscholasticism or Neothomism in the 1860s . A thorough investigation of Brentanos Catholic background will finally lead to re-evaluating his philosophical project, which in its aims goes far beyond the mere task of reforming the philosophy of his time.