Brentano, Franz Clemens, 1838-1917

Franz Clemens Brentano (1838-1917) was a German philosopher and psychologist generally regarded as the founder of act psychology, or intentionalism. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1864 and appointed a professor at the University of Würzburg in 1872. In 1873 he resigned from both his post at the university and the priesthood. He then began writing one of his most influential works, Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte (1874; Psychology from an empirical standpoint ). In 1874 he was appointed professor at the University of Vienna and in 1880 he decided to marry. His marriage was blocked by the Austrian authorities who considered him still a cleric and he was forced to resign his professorship and moved with his wife to Leipzig. He returned to the University of Vienna in 1895 as a "Privatdozent."

Brentano was influential in the development of Gestalt and existential psychology. Other major works were: Untersuchungen zur Sinnespsychologie (1907; Inquiry into sense psychology ) and Von der Klassifikation der psychischen Phänomene (1911; On the classification of psychological phenomena ).