Meinong: Editions, translations and Bibliographic Resources

This part of the section Ontologists of 19th and 20th centuries includes the following pages:

Alexius Meinong's Theory of Objects

Editions, translations, Bibliographic Resources and Selected Texts (Current page)

Selected bibliography on Meinong's Theory of Objects:

A - L

M - Z

A complete list of Meinong's writings is available in:

Reinhard Fabian, Gesamtverzeichnis der veröffentlichten Schriften und Briefe von Alexius Meinong (1873-1978). In: Alexius Meinong. Gesamtausgabe. Vol. VII (1978) 325-342 (Anhang I).

A selection of the most important writings (GA = Gesamtausgabe - Complete Edition in 7 volumes + 1 Supplement):

1. Meinong, Alexius. 1877. "Hume Studien I. Zur Geschichte und Kritik des modernen Nominalismus." Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschften.Philosophisch-historische Klasse no. 78:185-260.

   GA I pp. 1-72.

2. ———. 1882. "Hume Studien II. Zur Relationstheorie." Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschften.Philosophisch-historische Klasse no. 101:573-752.

   GA II pp. 1-184.

3. ———. 1894. Psychologisch-ethische Untersuchungen zur Werttheorie. Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky.

   Festschrift der K. K. Karl-Franzens-Universität zur Jahresfeier am 15. November 1894.

   GA III pp. 1-244.

4. ———. 1899. "Über Gegenstände höherer Ordnung und deren Verhältniss zur inneren Wharnehmung." Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane no. 21:187-272.

   GA II pp. 377-471.

5. ———. 1902. Über Annahmen. Leipzig: Barth.

   GA IV pp. 385-489.

6. ———, ed. 1904. Untersuchungen zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie. Leipzig: Barth.

   Inhalt: Alexius Meinong: Vorwort V; I. Alexius Meinong: Über Gegenstandstheorie 1; II. Rudolf Ameseder: Beiträge zur Grundlegung der Gegenstandstheorie 51; III. Ernst Mally: Unterschungen zur Gegenstandtheorie des Messens 181; IV. Wilhelm Frankl: Über Oëkonomie des Denkens 268; V. Vittorio Benussi: Zur Psychologie des Gestalterfassens (die Müller-Lyerische Figur) 303; VI. Vittorio Benussi und Liel Wilhelmine: Die verschobene Schachbrettfigur 449; VII: Vittorio Benussi: Ein neuer Beweis für die spezifische Helligkeit der Farben 475; VIII. Rudolf Ameseder: Über Vorstellungsproduktion 481; IX. Rudolf Ameseder: Über absolute Auffälligkeit der Farben 509; X: Wilhelmine Liel: Gegen eine voluntaristische Begründung der Werttheorie 527; XI. Robert Saxinger: Über die Natur der Phantasiengefühle Phantasiebegehrungen 579; Register 607.

7. ———. 1904. "Über Gegenstandstheorie." In Untersuchungen zur Gegenstandstheorie und Psychologie, 1-50. Leipzig: Barth.

   GA II pp. 481-530.

8. ———. 1907. Über die Stellung der Gegenstandstheorie im System der Wissenschaften. Leipzig: Voigtländer.

   GA V pp. 197-365.

9. ———. 1910. Über Annahmen. Leipzig: Barth.

   Second revised and expanded edition.

   GA IV pp. 1-384.

10. ———. 1913. Gesammelten Abhandlungen. Band. I: Abhandlungen zur Psychologie. Leipzig: Barth.

    GA I.

11. ———. 1913. Gesammelten Abhandlungen. Band. II:Abhandlungen zur Erkenntnistheorie und Gegenstandtheorie. Leipzig: Barth.

    GA II.

12. ———. 1915. Über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit. Beitrãge zur Gegenstandstheorie und Erkenntnistheorie. Leipzig: Barth.

    GA VI.

13. ———. 1921. "Selbstdarstellung." In Die Deutsche Philosophie der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen. (Erste Band), edited by Schmidt, Raymund, 91-148. Leipzig: Meiner.

    GA VII pp. 1-62.

14. ———. 1923. Zur Grundlegung der allgemeinen Werttheorie. Statt einer zweiten Auflage der "Psychologischen-ethischen Untersuchungen zur Werttheorie". Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky.

    With a Preface by Doris Meinong.

    GA III 469-656.

15. ———. 1968. "Etische Bausteine, nachgelassenes Fragment." In Gesamtausgabe. Band III, edited by Haller, Rudolf and Kindinger, Rudolf, 657-724. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

16. ———. 1977. "Über Inhalt und Gegenstand (Fragment)." Conceptus no. 11:67-76.

17. ———. 1988. Über Gegenstandstheorie. Selbstdarstellung. Hamburg: Meiner.

    Edited by Josef M. Werle with Introduction, bibliography and index (reprinted 1988).

18. ———. 1969. Abhandlungen zur Psychologie. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

    Band I.

19. Höfler, Alois. 1890. Logik. Wien - Leipzig: Hölder.

    Von Alois Höfler unter Mitwirkung von A. Meinong (by Alois Höfler in collaboration with A. Meinong).

(7 volumes + 1 supplement) - Edited by Rudolf Haller and Rudolf Kindinger - Graz, Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (1968-1978).

1. ———. 1969. Abhandlungen zur Psychologie. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band I.

2. ———. 1971. Abhandlungen zur Erkenntnistheorie und Gegenstandtheorie. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band II.

3. ———. 1968. Abhandlungen zur Werttheorie. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band III.

4. ———. 1969. Über Annahmen. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band IV.

   Anastatic reprint.

5. ———. 1973. Über philosophische Wissenschaft und ihre Propädeutik. Über die Stellung der Gegestandttheorie im System der Wissenschaften. Über die Erfahrungsgrundlagen unserer Wissens. Zum Erweise des allgemeinen Kausalgesetzes. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band V.

6. ———. 1972. Über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit. Beiträge zur Gegenstandtheorie und Erkenntnistheorie. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band VI.

7. ———. 1978. Selbstdarstellung. Vermischte Schriften. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Band VII.

8. ———. 1978. Kolleghefte und Fragmente. Schriften aus dem Nachlass. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

   Supplement.

1. Meinong, Alexius. 1879. "Modern Nominalism." Mind no. 4:124.

2. ———. 1960. "On the Theory of Objects." In Realism and the Background of Phenomenology, edited by Chisholm, Roderick M., 76-117. Glencoe: Free Press.

   Translation of Über Gegenstandstheorie, (1904), by I. Levi, D. B. Terrell, R. M. Chisholm.

3. ———. 1966. Meinong's Hume's Studies: Translation and Commentary.

   Translation of Hume Studien I (pp .98-192) & II (pp. 194-229) by Kenneth Frank Barber.

   Unpublished Ph. D. thesis, University of Iowa (umi Dissertation Express order number: 6702592).

4. ———. 1972. On Emotional Presentation. Evanston: Northwestern University Pres.

   Translated with an introduction by Marie-Luise Schubert Kalsi and with a foreword by John N. Findlay.

5. ———. 1973. "Toward an Epistemological Assessment of Memory." In Empirical Knowledge. Readings from Contemporary Sources, edited by Chisholm, Roderick M. and Swartz, Robert J., 253-270. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

   Translation of Zur erkenntnistheoretischen Würdigung des Gedächtnisses, (1886) - GA II pp. 185-209 by Linda L. McAlister and Margarete Schätte.

6. Grossmann, Reinhardt. 1974. "Meinong." In Meinong, 230-236. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

   Aee the II Appendix: "Meinong's Life and Work", partial translation of the Selbstdarstellung (Self-presentation) of 1921 by Reinhardt Grossmann.

7. ———. 1974. "Meinong." In Meinong, 224-229. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

   See I Appendix: Meinong's Ontology, artial translation of the Selbstdarstellung (Self-presentation) of 1921 by Reinhardt Grossmann.

8. Meinong, Alexius. 1978. Alexius Meinong on Objects of Higher Order and Husserl's Phenomenology. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.

   Table of Contents: Marie-Luise Schubert Kalsi: Introduction 1; Alexius Meinong: On the Psychology of Complexions and Relations, 1891 55; Supplementary Notes by Ernst Mally; Alexius Meinong; An Essay Concerning the Theory of Psychic Analysis, 1894. Supplementary Notes by Stephen Witasek 73; On Objects of Higher Order and Their Relationship to Internal Perception, 1899. Additional Notes by Auguste Fischer 137; Critical Notes on E. Husserl's Ideas on a Pure Phenomenology, Volume I. After 1914 209; Index 249-252.

   [Translation of: Zur Psychologie der Komplexionen und Relationen (1891) - (GA I. pp. 109-185) - Beiträge zur Theorie der psychischen Analyse (1894) - (GA I. pp. 305-388) - Über Gegenstande Öherer Ordnung und deren Verhältniss zur inneren Wahrnemung (1899) - (GA I pp. 397-441) - Edmund Husserl. Gesamtausgabe Supplementary volume].

9. ———. 1983. On Assumptions. Berkeley: University of California Press.

   Edited and translated, with an introduction by James Heanue.

   Translation of the second edition of Über Annahmen (1910).

10. ———. 1993. "Abstracting and Comparing." In Meinong and Husserl on Abstraction and Universals. From Hume Studies I to Logical Investagations II, 137-184. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

    By Robin D. Rollinger.

    Translation of Abstrahieren und Vergleichen, 1900.

11. ———. 1995. Alexius Meinong's Elements of Ethics: with the Translations of the Fragment "Etische Bausteine". Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Translated by Marie-Luise Schubert Kalsi.

1. Meinong, Alexius. 1980. Gli oggetti d'ordine superiore in rapporto alla percezione interna (Alexius Meinong) - Le qualità figurali (Christian von Ehrenfels). Faenza: Faenza Editrice.

   Traduzioni e note di Enzo Melandri.

   Traduzione di: Über Gegenstande Öherer Ordnung und deren Verhältniss zur inneren Wharnehmung di Alexius Meinong e di Über Gestaltqualitäten di Christian von Ehrenfels.

2. ———. 1991. Empirismo e nominalismo. Studi su Hume. Firenze: Ponte alle Grazie.

   Traduzione di Roberto Brigati.

   Contiene la traduzione di Hume Studien I and II.

3. ———. 2002. Teoria dell'oggetto. Trieste: Edizioni Parnaso.

   Traduzione di Vincenzo Raspa.

   Contiene la traduzione di Über Gegenstande Öherer Ordnung und deren Verhältnis zur inneren Wharnehmung, Über Gegenstandstheorie, Selbstdarstellung.

   Introduzione di Vincenzo Raspa: Fortuna, significato e origini della teoria dell'oggetto, pp. 13-77 ed estesa bibliografia pp. 79-145.

4. ———. 2003. Teoria dell'oggetto. Presentazione personale. Macerata: Quodlibet.

   Traduzione di Emanuele Coccia.

   Contiene la traduzione di: Über Gegenstandstheorie, Selbstdarstellung.

1. Meinong, Alexius. 1999. Théorie de l'objet (1904) et Presentation personelle (1921). Paris: Vrin.

   Traduction de Jean-François Courtine and Marc de Launay, avec une présentation de Jean-François Courtine (pp. 7-62).

   Traduction de: Über Gegenstandstheorie et Selbstdarstellung.

2. ———. 2007. "Sur les objets d’ordre supérieur et leur rapport à la perception interne." In À l’école de Brentano. De Würzburg à Vienne, edited by Fisette, Denis and Fréchette, Guillaume, 263-343. Paris: Vrin.

1. Meinong, Alexius. 2008. Teoría del objeto y presentación personal. Madrid / Buenos Aires: Miño y Dávila editores.

   Traducción de Carola Pivetta; Presentacción de Emanuele Coccia (pp. 11-43).

   Traducción de Über Gegenstandstheorie y de Selbstdarstellung.

"Meinong's Ontology. (1)

I. We must turn, in the first place, to a philosophical discipline which is not as yet part of the tradition, which is therefore in a certain sense new, and about which I have said some things which were intended to be of a fundamental nature. To begin with, it is impossible to give a regular definition of entity [Gegenstand]; for genus and differentia are lacking, since everything is an entity. However, the etymology of the word ' gegenstehen' yields at least an indirect characteristic, since it points to the experiences which apprehend entities; but these experiences must not be thought of as somehow constituting the entities. Every inner experience, at least every sufficiently elementary one, has such an entity; and insofar as the experience finds an expression – hence first of all in the words and sentences of language – this expression has a meaning[Bedeutung], and this meaning is always an entity. All knowledge, too, deals therefore with entities.

But large and important groups of entities have found no home in the traditional sciences; these sciences, moreover, are for the most part exclusively concerned with a knowledge of reality [Wirklichen], while even unreal things with being, things without being, possibilities, and even impossibilities can be objects of knowledge, namely, of a knowledge which is of interest to the as yet theoretically naive person only, as it were, when it promises to serve as a means for knowledge of reality. In contrast to such a preference for reality, which, in fact, has been overcome so far in no science, there exists the obvious need for a science which deals with entities without any restriction, especially without restriction to the special case of existence, so that it can be called existence-free [daseinsfrei]. This science about entities as such, or about pure entities, I have called the theory of entities.

Much of what belongs to this theory has already been studied under the title 'Logic' (especially: 'Pure Logic'); and that modern mathematical logic belongs completely to the realm of the theory of entities is only concealed by its goal of being a calculus, which seems to favor an extensive externalization [Veräusserlichung] in the sense of the logic of extensions, while it is just a complete internalization [Verinnerlichung] which the theory of entities strives for and makes possible. People have dealt with topics from the theory of entities since antiquity under the heading of 'Metaphysics', and especially, under the heading of 'Ontology' as part of metaphysics; and they have not always failed to recognize the characteristic feature of freedom from existence. But as a goal in itself, the concept of a theory of what is free from existence has, so far as I can see, never been espoused. According to this concept, there belongs to the theory of entities everything that can be made out about entities irrespective of their existence (for example, whatever it is that holds for the class of all colors which make up the 'color space,' as distinguished from the 'color body' which is restricted to the psychologically given); hence, everything that is a matter of a priori knowledge, so that the a priori can be treated as a defining characteristic of the kind of knowledge of which the theory of entities consists.

What belongs to the theory of entities is thus what is rational. Insofar [as it is that], it is therefore anything but a newly discovered country, but rather, in regard to one of its most important parts, mathematics, the justly admired standard of scientific precision. What is new is, perhaps, an insight into the peculiarity of this country and into the nature of its boundaries – unless one should rather speak of its boundlessness. In this respect, it is a kind of companion piece to metaphysics which tries to comprehend the totality of reality, while the theory of entities, because of its freedom from existence, tries to encompass also everything that is not real. Naturally, this freedom from existence does not mean that entities as such cannot have existence in the true sense. The fact that the kind of consideration and knowledge peculiar to the theory of entities therefore also appears where it can be applied to existents, constitutes one of the main values of the postulation of the new science.

Just as the concept of an entity in general is to be determined, at least cum grano salis, with an eye on apprehension, so are the main groups of entities characterized in regard to the main groups of apprehending experiences; and apprehensions are, as mentioned, all elementary experiences. Corresponding to the four main groups of the latter – to presentation [Vorstellen], thought [Denken], emotion [Fühlen], and desire [Begehren] – there are, therefore, four main groups of entities: objects [Objekte], objectives [Objektive], dignitatives [Dignitative], and desideratives [Desiderative]. However, the characteristics of the latter are not derived from the characteristics of the apprehending experiences. For this reason, nothing stands in the way of assigning to the immeasurable realm of objects, for example, also the inner experiences, even though these inner experiences cannot be given through presentations, but can only be apprehended through self-presentation or with the help of imagination."

(1) This is a translation of a part of Meinong's contribution to the book Die Philosophie der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen (Leipzig, 1923). The part is entitled 'Zur Gegenstandstheorie'. Meinong's contribution to the book was written at the beginning of 1920, shortly before his death on November 27, 1920. Meinong's terminology is at times rather idiosyncratic. I have, therefore, sometimes used his own Latin terms.

From: Reinhardt Grossmann - Meinong - London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974, pp. 224-229.