Alexius Meinong

Alexius Meinong (1853 - 1920) was an Austrian philosopher. He is most noted for his Theory of Objects and studies of deontic logic, which stemmed from his belief in nonexistent objects. The theory is based around the fact that it is possible to think about something, such as a golden mountain, even though that object does not exist.

Meinong was born in Lemberg, Austria (now L'viv in the Ukraine) and died in Graz, Austria. He studied at the Academic Gymnasium, Vienna and later the University of Vienna where he read history and philosophy as a pupil of Franz Brentano. He was professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Graz.