BRENTANO, ZELLER AND THEIR CONCEPTION OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Because of their different interpretations of Aristotelian natural theology and their polemics regarding Aristotle's nous poietikos, Brentano's and Zeller's philosophical standpoints are commonly regarded as incompatible. The thesis of this paper, however, is that there are some common features in their views on the history of philosophy that are usually neglected: Both Brentano and Zeller believe that there is a common pattern in the development of philosophical thought, and they both also agree on the way in which the development of Greek philosophy up to Aristotle should be viewed. We also know that Hegel exerted significant influence on Zeller's view of the history of philosophy. Against this backdrop the paper argues that despite Brentano's constant criticism of Hegel there are some important, previously overlooked similarities between Brentano's and Hegel's conceptions of the historical development of philosophy.