On the Content and Object of Presentations

On the Content and Object of Presentations
Author Kazimierz Twardowski
Original title Zur Lehre vom Inhalt und Gegenstand der Vorstellungen
Country Austria
Language German
Subject Philosophy
Published 1894
Media type Print
ISBN 978-9024719266

On the Content and Object of Presentations (German: Zur Lehre vom Inhalt und Gegenstand der Vorstellungen) is an 1894 book by the Polish philosopher Kazimierz Twardowski, a student of Franz Brentano.[1]

Summary

Twardowski argues that the object of a mental act is not "immanent" in the act, meaning that it is not part of the act. He distinguishes between the individual mental act, its content, and its object, and also argues that the question of whether or not an act has an object must be distinguished from the question of whether or not the object exists. Twardowski holds that even though every mental act has an object or intention, many of those objects do not exist at all.[1]

Scholarly reception

Reinhardt Grossmann has observed that Twardowski's book greatly influenced the course of philosophy. Alexius Meinong adopted Twardowski's distinction between the individual mental act, its content and its object, and his contention that there are many objects of acts that do not exist. This helped Meinong to clearly separate presentations from the objects which they intend.[1]

See also

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Books
  • Grossmann, Reinhardt (2005). Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926479-1. 

English translation

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