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.
**On the Austro-German tradition, see K. Mulligan, Wittgenstein et la tradition austro-allemande, Vrin, Paris 2012, as well as B. Smith, Austrian Philosophy. The Legacy of Franz Brentano, Open Court, La Salle-Chicago 1994. For an overview of Brentano's influences, see A. Dewalque, “Schema of the Brentano School Intellectual Progeny”, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 12/3, 2013, p. 445.
Research Projects
Hosted:
- Franz Brentano's Descriptive Psychology (FWF, University of Salzburg)
- Sêmainô - Differential Archaeology of the Linguistic Sign (SNF - ANR)
Activities
Upcoming Events:
- Autumn 2023 meetings of the research group Realisms.
-
Austro-German Philosophy: Between Bolzano and the Vienna Circle, OCET Workshop.
External Collaborations:
– “Monthly Phenomenology. An online forum of discussion on recent work in phenomenology”, one Friday per month, 4.15 pm CET (November 2020 - July 2021).
– "Franz Brentano Centenary. Conferences and Summer School", Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, University of Vienna, May 27-June 3, 2017.
Yearly Course on Austro-German Philosophy:
Past Courses:
– "A la recherche de la grammaire universelle II: l'époque moderne" (Spring 2019)
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