THE ORIGIN OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF RIGHT AND WRONG THE ORIGIN OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF RIGHT AND WRONG BY FRANZ BRENTANO ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY CECIL HAGUE FORMERLY LECTOR AT PRAGUE UNIVERSITY WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE WESTMINSTER ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD 2 WHITEHALL GARDENS 1902 BUTLER & TANNER, THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS, FROME, AND LONDON. The present translation owes its origin to a desire on the part of the translator of bringing to the wider notice of his fellow-countrymen a work which has proved beneficial and stimulating to himself. Written during short intervals of leisure while studying with Professor Anton Marty of Prague University, it has had the advantage of his careful and constant supervision. Without his aid it would scarcely have seen the light. The translator has especially to thank Professor S. A. Alexander, of Owens College, Manchester, for his valuable help in the general revision and the translation of several difficult passages. It is now, alas, too late to do more than record the translator’s debt to the late Professor Adamson, of Glasgow University, whose revision and correction of this essay was one of the last services rendered to the cause of truth by a life-long disciple. _West Dulwich, 1902._ AUTHOR’S PREFACE This lecture, which I now bring before the notice of a larger public, was delivered by me before the Vienna Law Society on January 23, 1889. It then bore the title: “Of the Natural Sanction for Law and Morality.” This title I have changed in order to bring its general purport more clearly into prominence; otherwise I have made scarcely any further alteration. Numerous notes have been added, and an already published essay: “Miklosich on Subjectless Propositions” appended. In what way it bears upon inquiries apparently so remote will be evident in the sequel. The occasion of the lecture was an invitation extended to me by Baron Von Hye, President of the Society. It was his wish that what had been said here a few years ago by Ihering, as jurist, in his address, _Über die Entstehung des Rechtsgefühls_, might in the same Society be illustrated by me from the philosophic point of view. It would be a mistake to assume from the incidental nature of the circumstances to which it owed its first appearance that the Essay was only a fugitive, occasional study. It embraces the fruits of many years’ reflection. The discussions it contains form the ripest product of all that I have hitherto published.