Alexius Meinong’s theory of relations

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the theory of relations developed by A. Meinong and to demonstrate its significance for the formation of Meinong’s theory of objects. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author shows that the interest in a theory of relations was not accidental for the representatives of the school of Bren­tano: one cannot determine the characteristic features of intentional relations without determining the characteristic features of relations as such. The article considers some ele­ments of the theory of relations proposed by Brentano and by some of his closest disci­ples – A. Marty and C. Stumpf. The second part deals with two important topics in Meinong’s theory of relations: classification of relations and their status. It is shown that Meinong recognized the distinctive ontological status of relations and their indepen­dence from the cognitive activity of mind. It is also shown that an attempt to clarify the characteristic features of “ideal” relations made by Meinong within the frame­work of his classification of relations eventually led him to formulate one of the key theses of his the­ory of objects. Finally, the third part discusses the nature of relations. The author analyses two solutions considered by Meinong: the first one, suggested in 1899, presupposed that some other relations connect a given relation with its relata, and the second one, devel­oped in 1902, was a suggestion that each relation by itself connects its relata. It is shown that the second solution required Meinong to expand the ontology and to change the pre­vious epistemology. A possible contemporary interpre­tation of the second solution pro­posed by Meinong is also suggested.