Alexius Meinong
This Austrian thinker dared to ask what exists, arguing that even impossible things like round squares have a kind of being.
1853–1920 (age 67)·Austrian philosopher·Birthday: July 17
Biography
Alexius Meinong carved a unique and stubborn path through early 20th-century philosophy. Working from the University of Graz, he developed a radical 'theory of objects' that challenged the simplistic view that only real things exist. Meinong insisted that objects of thought—the golden mountain, the round square, even fictional characters—have a form of being he called 'aussersein' or 'beyond being.' His ontology was famously lampooned by Bertrand Russell for its apparent commitment to existent non-existent objects, but it was a serious attempt to account for the data of thought and intentionality. While his technical vocabulary can seem bizarre, his work deeply influenced later movements in logic, semantics, and the philosophy of mind, forcing philosophers to confront the puzzling status of the merely possible and the impossible.
#1 When Alexius Was Born
The biggest hits of 1853
Alexius's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1853Born
1858Started school
1866Became a teenager
President: Andrew Johnson
1869Could drive
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1871Could vote
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1874Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1883Turned 30
President: Chester A. Arthur
1893Turned 40
World's Columbian Exposition dazzles Chicago
President: Grover Cleveland
1903Turned 50
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1913Turned 60
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1920Died at 67
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
Key Achievements
- Founded the Graz School of philosophy and established the first laboratory for experimental psychology in Austria.
- Developed the 'Theory of Objects,' a comprehensive ontology that included non-existent objects.
- Made significant contributions to value theory, distinguishing between dignitatives and desideratives.
- His work on intentionality and mental content directly influenced later phenomenologists and analytic philosophers.
Did You Know?
He was a student of the influential philosopher Franz Brentano.
The philosopher Bertrand Russell engaged in a famous and critical correspondence with him about the existence of non-existent objects.
The term 'Meinong's jungle' is sometimes used by critics to describe the ontological complexity of his theory.
He spent almost his entire academic career at the University of Graz.
“There are objects of which it is true that there are no such objects.”
