ABSTRACT
I would like to centre the Brentano puzzle on the problem of Brentano’s invisibility. Those asked to list the principal philosophers of the nineteenth century usually reply with names like those of Nietzsche, Mach, Dilthey, Mill, Frege, Kirkegaard. Perhaps Herbart, Comte, Simmel and Marx. Sometimes Bradley, Bolzano or Lotze are remembered. Very rarely, the name of Brentano is mentioned. Given this state of affairs, one should consider whether the call for a ‘Brentano revival’ has the sense of an exercise in philosophical archaeology, or whether this is a much more general problem which merits at least an attempt at a reply.
