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Franz Brentano_The True and the Evident.pdf

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44<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>True</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Evident</strong><br />

concepts, which is revealed only in experience, <strong>and</strong> we would become entangled in<br />

erroneous conclusions.<br />

Here, <strong>the</strong>n, is <strong>the</strong> new <strong>the</strong>sis. I am aware that it is far-reaching, for all abstracta are now<br />

to be counted as delusions. <strong>The</strong>y are useful as ways of speaking. Even Copernicus, for<br />

all his enlightenment, found it convenient to speak in Ptolemaic terms of <strong>the</strong> rising <strong>and</strong><br />

setting of <strong>the</strong> sun. And in ma<strong>the</strong>matics, it is convenient to be able to speak of infinitesimals,<br />

imaginary quantities, negative quantities, irrational numbers, <strong>and</strong> improper fractions,<br />

despite <strong>the</strong> fact that ma<strong>the</strong>maticians are fully aware of <strong>the</strong> intrinsic absurdity of <strong>the</strong>se<br />

products of <strong>the</strong> mind.<br />

Even space <strong>and</strong> time, <strong>the</strong>n, would not be anything real (to this extent we are with <strong>the</strong><br />

Idealists), <strong>and</strong> virtue would be only an empty word (despite our adherence to that which<br />

serves <strong>the</strong> ethical good). 2 A concession should be made to Nominalism; not that Nominalism<br />

is correct, however, but only that certain errors can be purged from <strong>the</strong> opposing <strong>the</strong>ory. 3

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