ABSTRACT
Franz Brentano’s treatise, Vom Ursprung sittlicher Erkenntnis, first published in 1889, has had great influence upon modern theory of value. Edmund Husserl embraced its tenets in the Logische Untersuchungen, as did Meinong in his address, “Für die
Psychologie und gegen den Psychologismus in der allgemeinen Werttheorie.”1 Max Scheler’s principal book, Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale Wertethik, despite its distortions and superficialities, may be traced to the same source.2 Nicolai Hartmann’s Ethik., even with its realm of value, rich with entia irrealia, could not have come into being without Brantano’s work.3 Countless other works on ethics and theory of value could also be listed in this context. Reviewing the English translation of the first edition of Brentano’s work, the esteemed British philosopher, G.E. Moore, praised Brentano’s work in the strongest terms. He said: “This is a far better discussion of the most fundamental principles of Ethics than any others with which I am acquainted…In almost all points in which he differs from any of the great historical systems, he is in the right; and he differs with regard to the most fundamental points of Moral Philosophy…. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of the work.”4 I would say, indeed, that Brentano’s work is the most significant step forward that has been made in ethics and the theory of value since the era of classical Greek philosophy.
