Brentano's theory of time consciousness

Abstract

The theory of time consciousness is one of the most important areas of Brentano's philosophy. It also forms this fragment of his teaching where the evolution of his views can be observed particularly clearly. As part of the analysis of the inner time consciousness, Brentano criticized his own ideas several times; however, he very often returns to his old, now rejected theories. In our article we try to outline this interesting path. The consideration of Brentano's unpublished manuscripts allows us to complete the typical picture of this part of his philosophy. Usually, we distinguish only the “early” Brentano, who accepted objects modified in time, and the “late” Brentano, who replaced this doctrine with the theory of psychic temporal modes. Indeed, this picture is very simplified.