The Theory of Categories

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-IX

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2. Introduction to the Theory of Categories

   1. Introduction to the Theory of Categories

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 1-11

3. The Strict and the Extended Senses of Being

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. The Ambiguity of “IS” and the Unity of the Concept of Being

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 15-33

   3. Real and Fictive Parts of Being

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 34-57

   4. Being and Intensity

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 58-77

4. Preliminary Studies for the Theory of Categories

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79

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   2. Aristotle’s Theory of Categories: Interpretation and Critique

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 81-100

   3. Substance

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 101-124

   4. Relations

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 125-146

5. The Final Three Drafts of the Theory of Categories (1916)

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-148

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   2. The First Draft of the Theory of Categories (1916)

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 149-166

   3. The Second Draft of the Theory of Categories (1916)

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 167-187

   4. The Third Draft of the Theory of Categories (1916)

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 188-207

   5. Appendix: The Nature of the Physical World in the Light of the Theory of Categories

      • Franz Brentano

      Pages 208-211

6. Back Matter

   Pages 213-275

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This book contains the definitive statement of Franz Brentano's views on meta­ physics. It is made up of essays which were dictated by Brentano during the last ten years of his life, between 1907 and 1917. These dictations were assembled and edited by Alfred Kastil and first published by the Felix Meiner Verlag in 1933 under the title Kategorienlehre. Kastil added copious notes to Brentano's text. These notes have been included, with some slight omissions, in the present edition; the bibliographical references have been brought up to date. Brentano's approach to philosophy is unfamiliar to many contemporay readers. I shall discuss below certain fundamental points which such readers are likely to find the most difficult. I believe that once these points are properly understood, then what Brentano has to say will be seen to be of first importance to philosophy. THE PRIMACY OF THE INTENTIONAL To understand Brentano's theory of being, one must realize that he appeals to what he calls inner perception for his paradigmatic uses of the word "is". For inner perception, according to Brentano, is the source of our knowledge of the nature of being, just as it is the source of our knowledge of the nature of truth and of the nature of good and evil. And what can be said about the being of things that are not apprehended in inner perception can be understood only by analogy with what we are able to say about ourselves as thinking subjects.

• Aristotle
• Immanuel Kant
• intention
• interpret
• knowledge
• philosophy
• psychology
• truth

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