Philosophic Foundations of Genetic Psychology and Gestalt Psychology
XVI Psychologists have, however, shown that what we are primarily aware of is not a succession of sense-data but figures-ground phenomena: Wittgenstein's ambiguous duck-rabbit is merely one such example. They have also drawn our attention to the existence
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ASH GOBAR
MAR TINUS NIJHOFF
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THE HAGUE
MARTINUS NljHOFF -
PUBLISHER -
THE HAGUE
This treatise is intended for the students of Philosophy and Science primarily (and secondarily for the students of the Humanities) . The author's conception of the philosophy of science as the 'morphology of science' (rather than the popular 'grammar of science') involves the adoption of a double-perspective which is reflected in the two phases of this work: (I) The scientific assessment of the experimental phenomena of Biological Psychology (especially the genetic and gestalt psychologies) . (II) The logical analysis of the methodological and epistemological framework of Empirical Psychology (as a member of the family of the Biological Sciences) in general. Among the special features of this book the following may be noted: (1) A systematic review of the varieties of experimental studies in Biological Psychology supplemented with commentaries. (2) Dispelling the prevalent misconceptions and spurious criticisms of European Psychology (especially the genetic and gestalt trends) by returning to the original sources of evidence (c£ the General Bibliography). (3) Indicating, wherever possible, lines of rapprochement between the European and the American psychologies. (4) Original contributions, supplementary to the genetic and gestalt theories, notably in the morphological sketch of thought processes. (5) Outlining the prolegomenon to a realistic philosophy of science (especially biological sciences) in which the principle of methodological complementarity and the concept of phenomenological spectrum play special roles. "This field of enquiry, in which philosophers have as yet not shown much interest, is dealt with very ably and fully by Dr. Gobar," writes Dr. Wolfe Mays (cf. Introduction), Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science in the University of Manchester, "A very important part of this book contains Dr. Gobar's views on the philosophy of science in which he develops some interesting concepts. These connect his discussions of the empirical psychological data with philosophical
MARTINUS NIJHOFF -
PUBLISHER -
THE HAGUE
theorizing. We may specifically mention here, (a) that of the phenomenological spectrum and the hypothesis of levels, and (b) his general conception of the philosophy of science as the morphology of science." About the author: His qualifications include a double background in Science (M.Sc.-Equivalent in Biological Psychology) and Hwnanities (M.A. in Intellectual History) besides Philosophy proper (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, 1959). Born in 1930 in European Georgia, he received all his higher education in America, excepting an interim in Europe. His dissertation on Abstract Entities was a study in the logic of sciences. Awarded a Research Grant by the National Institute (U.S.A.), for the writing of this treatise, he was a Travelling Fellow in the Universite de Geneve (Institut J.-J. Rousseau) (1959--60), and subsequently, a Visiting Scholar in Columbia University (1960--61). Lately, Associate Professor
