Nicolai Hartmanns Critical Ontology and the Critical Realism of the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology

Summary The author exemplifies the congruency of essential foundations between the critical realism of the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology (Gestalt theory) and Nicolai Hartmann’s Critical Ontology. For instance, this congruency manifests in the importance given to critical-realistic epistemology – purified from idealistic prejudices, not least prejudices such as production-theoretical ones – connected with an unconditional phenomenology. Altogether, it results in a shared critical distance from scholars of Brentano, such as Husserl and Meinong, as well as from Neo-Kantianism.

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Nicolai Hartmanns Kritische Ontologie („wie sie als Grundlage der Gnoseologie anzustreben ist“) und der Kritische Realismus der Gestaltpsychologie („Berliner Schule“/Gestalttheorie)

Gestalt Theory ◽

10.2478/gth-2018-0021 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 337-364

Author(s):

Hans-Jürgen P. Walter

Keyword(s):

Critical Realism ◽

Critical Distance ◽

Gestalt Psychology ◽

Gestalt Theory ◽

Critical Ontology ◽

Nicolai Hartmann

Abstract The author exemplifies the congruency of essential foundations between the critical realism of the Berlin School of Gestalt Psychology (Gestalt theory) and Nicolai Hartmann`s Critical Ontology. For instance, this congruency manifests in the importance given to critical-realistic epistemology - purified from idealistic prejudices, not least prejudices such as production-theoretical ones - connected with an unconditional phenomenology. Altogether, it results in a shared critical distance from scholars of Brentano, such as Husserl and Meinong, as well as from Neo-Kantianism.

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Gestalt psychology/Gestalt theory

The Merleau-Ponty Dictionary ◽

10.5040/9781350250314_0099 ◽

2013 ◽

Keyword(s):

Gestalt Psychology ◽

Gestalt Theory

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Nicolai Hartmann und die Gestalttheorie. Ein Vergleich unter dem Aspekt “Kausalität”

Gestalt Theory ◽

10.2478/gth-2021-0023 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 347-374

Author(s):

Hans-Jürgen P. Walter

Keyword(s):

Closed System ◽

Physical Layer ◽

Gestalt Theory ◽

Natural Processes ◽

Theoretical Position ◽

Physical Context ◽

General Law ◽

Critical Ontology ◽

Starting Point ◽

Nicolai Hartmann

Summary In 1919 Nicolai Hartmann (NH) convincingly justified that there cannot exist a “general law of causation” as A. Meinong had in mind. For him Meinong’s understanding of causation (linear, successive in time) was bound on the region of the physical layer of being, simultaneously postulating it as the only possible causation there. This is the starting point of the comparison between N. Hartmann‘s understanding of causation and that of the Gestalt Theory, for which neither in psychic nor in natural (physical) context linear-successive causality plays a part. Therefore NH’s conception of 1919 was still completely incompatible with that of the Gestalt Theory despite the fact that he was distancing himself from the “general law of causation” sensu Meinong. 20 years later he changed this by adding the “Wechselwirkung” (interaction) to the linear successive causation in the physical layer. In doing so he approached the Gestalt theoretical position but failed it insofar as for it his linear-successive understanding of causation generally has had its day with regard to natural processes, also consequently for the physical (instead interaction between system and border conditions applies, an interaction of field forces). Thus the term “causation“ had become free for a dynamic concept of causation which is equally appropriate for the physical and the psychic. NH makes this move not until 1949, shortly before his death, by writing: ... (see original quotation in the German summary above). It is the opinion of the author of this work that the ingenious systematics of NH‘s Critical Ontology (which is not a closed system) should make it possible to execute the necessary corrections in some details of his theory of layers without questioning the structure of his systematics, thus carrying out what NH was not able to do himself due to his death.

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Gestalt Psychology

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.488 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Horst Gundlach

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

The United States ◽

Gestalt Psychology ◽

Field Theories ◽

Theoretical Ground ◽

Gestalt Theory ◽

Empirical Psychology ◽

Primary Material ◽

The Mind

Gestalt psychology is an holistic approach to psychology launched in 1910 by three psychologists: Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka. It was conceived to oppose elementary or atomistic psychology, the conception that psychical processes consist of elements whose associations produce the contents experienced in the mind or soul. Instead, Gestalt psychology holds that configurations or, in German, Gestalten, not these hypothetical elements, are the primary material underlying experience. Beginning with research in perception, the Gestalt approach was soon applied to other fields of psychology. Gestalt theory, inspired by field theories in physics, tried to lay a common groundwork for psychology, physiology, and physics. The Gestalt movement originated in Germany, but the three protagonists for personal and political reasons resettled in the United States where the movement became an important force combatting the dominance of behaviorism. The Gestalt approach was especially fruitful in empirical psychology, but it did not fulfill the promise of turning psychology into a unified science based on a common theoretical ground.

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Lukács' Critical Ontology and Critical Realism

Journal of Critical Realism ◽

10.1558/jocr.v4i2.395 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 395-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mário Duayer ◽

João Medeiros

Keyword(s):

Critical Realism ◽

Critical Ontology

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The ‘Good Form’ of Film

Gestalt Theory ◽

10.2478/gth-2018-0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 29-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria Poulaki

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processing ◽

Dynamic Models ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Gestalt Psychology ◽

Gestalt Theory ◽

Good Continuation ◽

Film Research ◽

Film Form ◽

Film Aesthetics

Summary This article questions certain assumptions concerning film form made by the recent (neuro)psychological film research and compares them to those of precursors of film psychology like Hugo Münsterberg and Rudolf Arnheim, as well as the principles of Gestalt psychology. It is argued that principles of Gestalt psychology such as those of ‘good form’ and good continuation are still underlying the psychological research of film, becoming particularly apparent in its approach to continuity editing. Following an alternative Gestalt genealogy that links Gestalt theory with more recent dynamic models of brain activity and with accounts of brain complexity and neuronal synchronisation, the article concludes that psychological research on film needs to shift the focus from form to transformation, both in conceiving the perceptual and cognitive processing of films and in approaching film aesthetics more broadly.

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Daniel Stern′s Developmental Psychology and its Relation to Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Theory ◽

10.1515/gth-2017-0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 54-63

Author(s):

Anna Arfelli Galli

Keyword(s):

Infant Development ◽

Developmental Psychology ◽

Gestalt Psychology ◽

The Other ◽

Gestalt Theory ◽

Time Space ◽

Daniel Stern ◽

Force Time ◽

Innate Ability

Summary Daniel N. Stern’s research on the first years of life offers the view of an active newborn, developing in a continuous dialogue with the Other. The mother places the infant feelings at the center of her attention. The infant gets in tune with the mother, and learns that she welcomes and understands his inner states. Such attunement is a primary holistic experience, taking place because of the infant innate ability to perceive the “interpersonal happenings” as a unitary Gestalt, emerging “from the theoretically separate experiences of movement, force, time, space and intention”. Large convergence exists between Daniel Stern’s developmental psychology and Gestalt theory: both view the infant development occurring within an inter-subjective matrix, not as a process with phases or stages, but rather as a progressive organization of structures.

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Field-assisted ionization theory for microscopists

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100171833 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 820-821

Author(s):

Patrick P. Camus

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Electron Tunneling ◽

Ionization Probability ◽

Critical Distance ◽

Tunneling Probability ◽

Field Ionization ◽

Radius Of Curvature ◽

Field Evaporation ◽

A Value ◽

Ion Emission

The theory of field ion emission is the study of electron tunneling probability enhanced by the application of a high electric field. At subnanometer distances and kilovolt potentials, the probability of tunneling of electrons increases markedly. Field ionization of gas atoms produce atomic resolution images of the surface of the specimen, while field evaporation of surface atoms sections the specimen. Details of emission theory may be found in monographs.Field ionization (FI) is the phenomena whereby an electric field assists in the ionization of gas atoms via tunneling. The tunneling probability is a maximum at a critical distance above the surface,xc, Fig. 1. Energy is required to ionize the gas atom at xc, I, but at a value reduced by the appliedelectric field, xcFe, while energy is recovered by placing the electron in the specimen, φ. The highest ionization probability occurs for those regions on the specimen that have the highest local electric field. Those atoms which protrude from the average surfacehave the smallest radius of curvature, the highest field and therefore produce the highest ionizationprobability and brightest spots on the imaging screen, Fig. 2. This technique is called field ion microscopy (FIM).

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