Marty was a student and follower of Franz Brentano, his teacher at the University of Würzburg in 1868–70.

His academic career began at Gottingen where, under Hermann Lotze, he took his degree by submitting an 1875 thesis on the origin of language entitled Kritik der Theorien uber den Sprachursprung.

[2] Both universities fell within the Austrian territories of the Austro-Hungarian empire at that time, as they would for the remainder of Marty's lifetime.

Marty would remain at the German Charles-Ferdinand University, where he would also serve as dean and then rector, until his retirement in 1913.

[9] Nachlass works Edited by Josef Eisenmeierand, Aflred Kastil, & Oskar Kraus: Gesammelte Schriften