ABSTRACT
Franz Brentano was not a systematic writer, but he was very much a systematic thinker. Through his manuscripts, lecture notes, letters, dictations, and occasional published writings, one can discern a systematic, unified approach to the true, the good, and the beautiful. This chapter focuses on Brentano's philosophical program. Many things can be said to be true—notably sentences, utterances, and thoughts. Belief is committed to the truth of what is believed, then, whereas disbelief is committed to the falsity of what is disbelieved. The idea that the true is that which it is fitting to represent-as-true might seem circular. The characterization of pro attitudes as embodying mental commitment to goodness, the attitudinal take on goodness-commitment, the fitting pro attitude account of goodness, and the inner-perceptual grasp of both the relevant attitudinal property and its fittingness echo parallel views in Brentano's account of truth and existence.
