Although interpreters have long recognized Franz Brentano’s powerful impact on his students, the career-long persistence of his hold on Edmund Husserl is still underestimated. Conventional narratives of Husserl’s development describe his mentor’s pervasive early impact followed by a sharp break from the master’s philosophy. My essay challenges this account by arguing that Husserl’s shift toward transcendental phenomenology within the domain of ethics marked a reappraisal – even a reinvigoration – of Brentanian premises, rather than an attempt to discard them.

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