Conclusion

Amy E. Varela

pp. 245-250

in: Robin Rollinger, Husserl's position in the school of Brentano, Berlin, Springer, 1999

Abstract

We have initially characterized the school of Brentano in terms of its psychological orientation. The orthodox position involves the thesis that psychology is the central philosophical discipline. The psychology in question is however neither the old associationism of the British empiricists nor the psycho-physiology of Wundt, but rather one in which intentional reference is made the prominent theme. The description of those phenomena which intentionally refer to objects is moreover regarded as a task which precedes the identification of their causes. In Husserl's early work (1887–1893) we find no considerable divergence from this path of orthodoxy. We also find other ways in which he adhered to the teachings of his mentor, e.g., to immanentism, the division of presentations into concrete and abstract ones, also into authentic and inauthentic ones.