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Brentano’s Appointment to the University of Vienna

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Franz Brentano and Austrian Philosophy

Part of the book series: Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook ((VCIY,volume 24))

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Abstract

Franz Brentano is seen by many historians of philosophy as a leading representative of Austrian Philosophy. Up to now nobody has cared to answer the question, how he arrived from Würzburg to Vienna. When after the retirement of Franz Karl Lott as Ordinarius for philosophy his chair became vacant, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made by the university faculty to find a suitable successor. But then the minister of Culture and Education made an unusual decision: he appointed Brentano in 1874 without waiting any longer. It seems as if a sort of conspiracy was at work here. In this secret concerted action the Göttingen-based philosopher Hermann Lotze, his former colleague and later on Vienna professor Lott and also the Minister Karl Stremayr himself were all involved. This complicated story is presented on the basis of archival material. Then Brentanos famous inaugural lecture is discussed and its reception by its hearers and the press described. I end with an outlook on Brentano’s successes as an academic teacher in Vienna, which perhaps could have been even more spectacular, when the authorities after Stremayr’s retirement would not have chosen to deprive Brentano of his chair.

I thank Wilhelm Baumgartner (University of Würzburg), Thomas Binder (Franz Brentano Archive of the University of Graz) and Guillaume Frechette (University of Salzburg) for valuable information, without which this contribution would be incomplete and faulty.

Binder will publish a book “Franz Brentano and his Philosophical Estate” (with a longer biographical essay about him) at de Gruyter, Frechette (University of Salzburg) and Dennis Fisette (Montréal) prepare a scientific biography of Brentano.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The articles collected in the Heidenreich (2000) volume deal mainly with the German branch of the family – including Franz and Lujo Brentano – and end with Heinrich von Brentano.

  2. 2.

    Brentano (1862).

  3. 3.

    Brentano (1867/1967).

  4. 4.

    Thomas Binder (Graz) informed me that in 1862 he was only a few weeks a novice in Graz and then left the monastery disappointed.

  5. 5.

    Brentano (1869/1969) 403.

  6. 6.

    Brentano (1869/1969).

  7. 7.

    Brentano (1869/1969) 409.

  8. 8.

    Brentano (1869/1969) 424.

  9. 9.

    Brentano (1869/1969) 415; The German unification was then still 2 years ahead.

  10. 10.

    Thomas Binder has pointed out to me that conflicts at the university also played a role here, such as the refusal to award him a full professorship in spite of his extraordinary teaching success.

  11. 11.

    See (also for the following) Dahms and Stadler (2015) 80 ff.

  12. 12.

    The competition between Herbartianism and Kantianism in the nineteenth century is examined in Köhnke (1986) 109 ff.

  13. 13.

    Ebel (1962) 124 lists Lott among the associate professors (Extraordinarien) until 1848 as No. 89; ibid. 138 – from 1842 to 1845 – with No. 161 – as lecturer (Privatdozent).

  14. 14.

    Sitzungsprotokolle Phil. Fak.: I. Session of 8th of October 1871.

  15. 15.

    This is apparent from the minutes of the IV. Session of 16th of March 1872, in which the Ministerial decree is quoted.

  16. 16.

    Köhnke (1986) 233 ff.

  17. 17.

    Neurath (1936/1981) 676 ff.

  18. 18.

    Stremayr (1899) 19.

  19. 19.

    Ibidem, 20.

  20. 20.

    Ibidem, 29.

  21. 21.

    Ibidem, 33.

  22. 22.

    Ibidem, 34.

  23. 23.

    Ibidem, 35.

  24. 24.

    Pfleger (1997); on Stremayr, especially 145 ff.

  25. 25.

    Stremayr (1899) 55.

  26. 26.

    Ibidem. On the other hand, Stremayr resisted in vain the division of Prague University into a German and a Czech one. As a result, according to him a “nursery of national zealots” had been created.

  27. 27.

    See Lotze’s biography: Woodward (2015) and the extensive re-releases, including his major work “Microcosm.”

  28. 28.

    Pester (2003) 18, Woodward (2015) 225.

  29. 29.

    See Lotze’s almost enthusiastic report on the Stumpf’s dissertation “On the Relationship of the Platonic God to the Idea of Good”, July 1868, and the description of Stumpf’s doctoral examination in his essay “On Lotze’s Memory” in Lotze (2003) 486 f.

  30. 30.

    See text to footnote 39.

  31. 31.

    Ebel (1962) 108, no. 90.

  32. 32.

    Ebel (1962) 107, no. 78.

  33. 33.

    This letter apparently no longer exists.

  34. 34.

    Lotze (2003); see (also for the following quotes) 572 f.

  35. 35.

    In those files in the UAW and in the HStAW, which concern Brentano, they are certainly not to be found.

  36. 36.

    See for the following also Dahms and Stadler (2015) 84 f.

  37. 37.

    Underline in the original, otherwise emphasis added.

  38. 38.

    Emphasis added.

  39. 39.

    Brentano to Lotze, 18th of January 1874, in: Lotze (2003) 595 f.

  40. 40.

    Brentano (1874/1929)

  41. 41.

    Ibidem, 86.

  42. 42.

    Ibidem, 92.

  43. 43.

    Brentano (1866/1929) 137.

  44. 44.

    Brentano (1874/1929) 93.

  45. 45.

    Ibidem, 94.

  46. 46.

    Ibidem, 100.

  47. 47.

    Ibidem, 87.

  48. 48.

    A concise version of his system can be found already in its first draft: Comtes (1822/1914).

  49. 49.

    Unlike Comte, Brentano does not mention biology as a layer of the science pyramid, perhaps to avoid commenting on Darwin’s contemporary teachings.

  50. 50.

    Fisette and Frechette (2017) 462 ff.

  51. 51.

    See Hasenfuss (1978). For the reference to this letter I thank Guillaume Frechette.

  52. 52.

    The following quotes are from “Neue Freie Presse”, 23rd of April 1874, p. 5.

  53. 53.

    See Brentano (1894) 2.

  54. 54.

    „Die Presse“ 23rd of April 1874, p. 3.

  55. 55.

    Neues Fremden-Blatt, 23rd of April 1874, p. 2 f.

  56. 56.

    Vorlesungsverzeichnis Sommersemester 1874, 30.

  57. 57.

    Vorlesungsverzeichnis Wintersemester 1974/75, 32.

  58. 58.

    Vorlesungsverzeichnis Sommersemester 1976.

  59. 59.

    Information from Thomas Binder.

  60. 60.

    Brentano to Gautsch, 1886 (without exact date); the following quotes refer to this document.

  61. 61.

    See the Wikipedia entry “Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn”, retrieved on the ninth of December 2018.

  62. 62.

    Benetka (1990, 1995) and Dahms (2017) 24–26.

  63. 63.

    See Brentano (1874).

  64. 64.

    See for an overview Spiegelberg (1994).

  65. 65.

    Fisette (2011).

  66. 66.

    Baumgartner (2000).

  67. 67.

    See the numerous petitions in the faculty file Brentano (now as lecturer) in the UAW.

  68. 68.

    See his biography Kraus (2000).

  69. 69.

    Lujo Brentano (1931) 145.

  70. 70.

    See for the long history of this honouring the faculty file “Brentano” in the UAW.

Unpublished Sources

Universitätsarchiv Wien (UAW)

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Haupstaatsarchiv Wien (HstAW)

  • Karl von Stremayr to the Emperor (österr. Kaiser), 14th of January 1874.

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  • ÖstA, AVA, UMin., Universität Wien, Professoren BI-BR (Bibl-Brunswik), Ktn. 664, Sign. 4.

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Franz Brentano-Archiv Graz

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  1. Independent Scholar, Berlin, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Dahms

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  1. Hans-Joachim Dahms
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Denis Fisette

  2. Department of Philosophy, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Guillaume Fréchette

  3. Institute Vienna Circle, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria

    Friedrich Stadler

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Dahms, HJ. (2020). Brentano’s Appointment to the University of Vienna. In: Fisette, D., Fréchette, G., Stadler, F. (eds) Franz Brentano and Austrian Philosophy. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40947-0_6

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