Inbegriff

Geneva Seminar for Austro-German Philosophy

Inbegriff is a research group devoted to understanding and evaluating Austro-German philosophy.

The Austro-German tradition originates in the works of Bernard Bolzano and, above all, Franz Brentano. Putting description, scientific method and a concern for clarity at the core of his philosophical and psychological inquiries, Brentano’s thought was explicitly directed against the dominant, speculative philosophical stance in the German-speaking world, post-Kantian idealisms, and a variety of naturalisms. The first layer of the Austro-German tradition is made up of Brentano’s earliest students, Carl Stumpf, Anton Marty, Christian von Ehrenfels, Alexius Meinong, Edmund Husserl and Kazimierz Twardowski. Under their influence, Brentano’s seminal views in the philosophy of mind and language, logic, ontology, ethics and value theory spread out over Central Europe, in Germany, thanks to Stumpf and Husserl, and in Prague, Graz and Lvov, thanks to Marty, Meinong and Twardowski. The students and other heirs of these philosophers include the Gestalt-psychologists in Graz, Berlin and Vienna, the early phenomenologists in Germany, and many other thinkers. Besides, thanks to Twardowski and Husserl, Bolzano’s “Anti-Kantian” philosophy slowly began to become known, a process which continues apace.

Inbegriff aims to understand the history of Austro-German philosophy by studying the works of individual authors and by identifying common positions and disagreements, notably in descriptive psychology, semantics, formal ontology and the theory of value.

Inbegriff also aims to evaluate philosophically Austro-German philosophies and contribute to current debates, which can often be traced back to earlier Austro-German discussions, such as the theory of intentionality, the analysis of different types of mental acts and states, the relation between pragmatics and semantics, the ontology of relations, tropes and states of affairs, and value theory.

The main activities of the research group will be the organization of an Annual Conference on Austro-German Philosophy, the organization of a series of workshops, the teaching of a yearly course at the University of Geneva, and the constitution of a reading group, which brings together students and scholars from Geneva and elsewhere. Moreover, Inbegriff will host national and international research projects on Austro-German philosophy.
 

Current Research Projects

Past Research Projects

• Realisms: Universals, Relations, and States of Affairs in the Austro-German and Medieval Traditions (SNF)
• Sêmainô - Differential Archaeology of the Linguistic Sign (SNF - ANR)
• Meaning and Intentionality in Anton Marty (SNF)

Current Activities
Upcoming Events:

September 12-13, 9:00–18:00
'Austrian Railway Stations and one Chinese Game of Chance': 10 years of Inbegriff, the Geneva Seminar for Austro-German Philosophy, September  12-13 2025.  (second of two workshops)

• Romain Büchi (Université de Genève)
• Arnaud Dewalque (Université de Liège)
• Denis Fisette (Université du Québec à Montréal)
• Kevin Mulligan (Università Della Svizzera Italiana / University of Geneva)
• Venanzio Raspa (Università di Urbino)
• Denis Seron (Université de Liège)
• Gianfranco Soldati (Université de Fribourg)
• Alberto Voltolini (Università di Torino)

Espace Colladon (Rue Jean-Daniel Colladon 2)

Program

December 11-12

The Crisis of Philosophy in the 1930s

REGULAR EVENTS:

• The Meinong Study Group. Fortnightly on Thursdays, 3-4.30 pm CET. Please contact Guillaume Fréchette or Colin King to register
• Monthly Phenomenology. An online forum of discussion on recent work in phenomenology, one Friday per month, 4.15 pm CET (November 2020 - July 2021), as part of the NfPR - see website for the programme.

Past Activities

Conferences and lectures

• Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Remarks and its Phenomenological Grammar. Workshop with Mauro Engelmann. July 23, 2025.

• 'Austrian Railway Stations and one Chinese Game of Chance': 10 years of Inbegriff, the Geneva Seminar for Austro-German Philosophy, June 11-13 2025  (part 1). Abstracts

• The Historiography of Philosophy in the 20th Century: Problems and Prospects. September 11-13, Phil 211

• Austro-German Philosophy: Between Bolzano and the Vienna Circle, OCET Workshop.

• Franz Brentano Centenary. Conferences and Summer School, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, University of Vienna, May 27-June 3, 2017.

Courses

2016-2017:
– "L'intentionnalité : d'Aristote à Brentano" (Autumn 2016)
– Working sessions of "L'intentionnalité : d'Aristote à Brentano" (Spring 2017)

2015-2016:
– "Introduction à la philosophie et à son histoire. La philosophie autrichienne de Bolzano à Wittgenstein" (Autumn 2015)
– Working sessions of "Introduction à la philosophie et à son histoire. La philosophie autrichienne de Bolzano à Wittgenstein" (Spring 2016)

Reading Groups
– Spring Semester 2017:
Reading of Ch. v. Ehrenfels' "Über 'Gestaltqualitäten'".
Ch. v. Ehrenfels, "Über 'Gestaltqualitäten'", Vierteljahrsschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie 14 (1890), pp. 249-292. Reading in French: Ch. v. Ehrenfels, "Sur les 'qualités de forme'", in D. Fisette & G. Fréchette (2007), A l'école de Brentano. De Würzbourg à Vienne, Paris: Vrin, pp. 225-259.
Meetings: 25/4, 9/5, from 6pm to 8pm, University of Geneva, Department of Philosophy, 5 rue de Candolle, 3rd floor, Meeting Room.

– Autumn Semester 2016:
Reading of A. Meinong's "Über Gegenstände höherer Ordnung".
A. Meinong, "Über Gegenstände höherer Ordnung und deren Verhältnis zur inneren Wahrnehmung", Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane 21 (1899), pp. 182-272. Reading in French: A. Meinong, "Sur les objets d'ordre supérieur et leur rapport à la perception interne", in D. Fisette & G. Fréchette (2007), A l'école de Brentano. De Würzbourg à Vienne, Paris: Vrin, pp. 261-341.
Meetings: 25/10, 23/11, 28/11, from 6pm to 8pm, University of Geneva, Department of Philosophy, 5 rue de Candolle, 3rd floor, Meeting Room.

– Spring Semester 2016:
Reading of the 1st Logical Investigation of E. Husserl ("Ausdruck und Bedeutung").
E. Husserl (1913/1984), Logische Untersuchungen. Zweiter Band, Untersuchungen zur Phänomenologie und Theorie der Erkenntnis, 1. Teil, ed. U. Panzer, Husserliana 19, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Reading in French: E. Husserl (1961), Recherches logiques, 2, 1ère partie, trad. Hubert Elie, Arion L. Kelkel, René Schérer, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Meetings: 02/03, 16/03, 06/04, 27/04, 04/05, 25/05, from 6pm to 8pm, University of Geneva, Bastions, B002.

Links

Archives Husserl, Paris
Brentano Studien
North American Society for Early Phenomenology
Research Unit "Phenomenologies", University of Liège
UMR STL (Savoirs, Textes, Langage), University of Lille 3
University of Salzburg, Philosophy Department, Franz Brentano