• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Philosophy Professor logo

PhilosophyProfessor.com

  • Philosophers
  • Philosophies

Alexius von Meinong

Alexius von MeinongAlexius von Meinong (1853-1920) was an Austrian philosopher and psychologist belonging to the school of psychology of the act.

Table of Contents

  • 1 Ideas
  • 2 Biography
  • 3 Major Works of Alexius von Meinong
    • 3.1 Related:
  • 4 Videos
  • 5 Related Products
    • 5.1 Alexius Meinong: On Objects of Higher Order and Husserl’s Phenomenology
    • 5.2 Alexius Meinong, The Shepherd of Non-Being (Synthese Library Book 360)
    • 5.3 The School of Alexius Meinong (Western Philosophy Series)
    • 5.4 Alexius Meinong’s Elements of Ethics: with Translation of the Fragment Ethische Bausteine
    • 5.5 The Transformation of Positivism: Alexius Meinong and European Thought, 1880-1920
    • 5.6 On Emotional Presentation (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
    • 5.7 Der Briefwechsel (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien 7) (German Edition)
    • 5.8 Psychological Themes in the School of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien Book 10)
    • 5.9 Logical, Ontological, and Historical Contributions on the Philosophy of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien)
    • 5.10 Teoría del objeto y Presentación personal (Biblioteca de la Filosofía venidera nº 2) (Spanish Edition)

Ideas

He is mainly known for his Theory of Objects  (Gegenstandstheorie, 1904) and his studies of deontological logic, based on his belief in non-existent (“totally abstract”) objects. This theory is based on the fact that it is possible to think of an object, such as a mountain of gold, even though such an object does not exist in the external world.

Biography

Alexius Meinong (July 17, 1853 – Graz, Austria, November 27, 1920). was born to a noble German family in Lemberg, which was part of Austria and later became part of Poland. Today it is called Leopolis and is in Ukraine.

After attending the Academic Gymnasium in Vienna, he studied history and philosophy at the University of Vienna under Franz Brentano (1875 – 1878)

In 1878, he transferred to the Karl Franzens University in Graz as Riedl’s successor; there he became an extraordinary professor of philosophy (1882).

He became professor of philosophy at the University of Graz, where he founded the Graz Psychological Institute and the School of Experimental Psychology in 1894 (the Graz School of Experimental Psychology became famous in his day).

Meinong supervised the graduation thesis of Christian von Ehrenfels (founder of Gestalt theory and Gestalt psychology). He was also the supervisor of the qualifications of Alois Höfler and Anton Ölzen-Newin.

Besides the influence of his master Brentano, he was strongly influenced by the phenomenology created by his fellow student Edmund Husserl. It is for this reason that Meinong tries the creation of a new science that tries the study of the previous to the experience (the a priori) subtracting for this task the intentionality of the very subjective context to which Husserl’s phenomenology had arrived.

He considers that “nonexistent objects” are a priori and nevertheless promoters of intentionality and, for this reason, like existing objects, constituents of consciousness, Meinong is far from falling into solipsism, but studies the configuration – in consciousness – of such nonexistent entities based on real objectivity.

He died in 1920 in Graz, Austria.

Major Works of Alexius von Meinong

– Über Gegenstandstheorie, lead article in A. Meinong (ed.), Untersuchungen zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie, Leipzig: Barth, 1904
– Über Annahmen, 2nd ed., Leipzig: Barth, 1910
– Über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit, Leipzig: Barth, 1915
– Über emotionale Präsentation, report of the Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 1917

Related:

  • Meinong’s jungle
  • Franz Brentano
  • phenomenology
  • Richard von Mises
  • Karl Popper

  • Videos

  • Related Products

     
    Alexius Meinong: On Objects of Higher Order and Husserl’s Phenomenology

    Alexius Meinong: On Objects of Higher Order and Husserl’s Phenomenology

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Hardcover Book
    • Kalsi Schubert, Marie-Luise (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 252 Pages - 12/31/1978 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Alexius Meinong, The Shepherd of Non-Being (Synthese Library Book 360)

    Alexius Meinong, The Shepherd of Non-Being (Synthese Library Book 360)

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Jacquette, Dale (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 434 Pages - 07/13/2015 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    The School of Alexius Meinong (Western Philosophy Series)

    The School of Alexius Meinong (Western Philosophy Series)

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Albertazzi, Liliana (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 592 Pages - 07/05/2017 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Alexius Meinong’s Elements of Ethics: with Translation of the Fragment Ethische Bausteine

    Alexius Meinong’s Elements of Ethics: with Translation of the Fragment Ethische Bausteine

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Kalsi, Marie-Luise Schubert (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 211 Pages - 12/06/2012 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    The Transformation of Positivism: Alexius Meinong and European Thought, 1880-1920

    The Transformation of Positivism: Alexius Meinong and European Thought, 1880-1920

    • Hardcover Book
    • Lindenfeld, David F. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 301 Pages - 03/01/1981 (Publication Date) - Univ of California Pr (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    On Emotional Presentation (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

    On Emotional Presentation (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

    • Meinong, Alexius (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 264 Pages - 03/15/2020 (Publication Date) - Northwestern University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Der Briefwechsel (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien 7) (German Edition)

    Der Briefwechsel (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien 7) (German Edition)

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Meinong, Alexius (Author)
    • German (Publication Language)
    • 191 Pages - 10/24/2016 (Publication Date) - De Gruyter (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Psychological Themes in the School of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien Book 10)

    Psychological Themes in the School of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien Book 10)

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 12/16/2019 (Publication Date) - De Gruyter (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Logical, Ontological, and Historical Contributions on the Philosophy of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien)

    Logical, Ontological, and Historical Contributions on the Philosophy of Alexius Meinong (Meinong Studies / Meinong Studien)

    • Hardcover Book
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 182 Pages - 05/13/2014 (Publication Date) - De Gruyter (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Teoría del objeto y Presentación personal (Biblioteca de la Filosofía venidera nº 2) (Spanish Edition)

    Teoría del objeto y Presentación personal (Biblioteca de la Filosofía venidera nº 2) (Spanish Edition)

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Meinong, Alexius (Author)
    • Spanish (Publication Language)
    • 03/28/2019 (Publication Date) - Miño y Dávila editores (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
  • Last update 2020-06-17. Price and product availability may change.

    Friedrich Schleiermacher

    Hippocrates

    Democritus

    Jonathan Edwards

    Max Planck

    • Contact
    • Facebook

    Copyright © 2023 · CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. “AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES.”