Philosophic Foundations of Genetic Psychology and Gestalt Psychology: A Comparative Study of the Empirical Basis, Theoretical Structure, and Epistemological Groundwork of European Biological Psychology

356 Pages·1968·8.296 MB·English

by  Ash Gobar (auth.)

Philosophic Foundations of
Genetic Psychology
and Gestalt Psychology
A Comparative Study of the Empirical Basis,
Theoretical Structure, and Epistemol08ical Groundwork
of European Biol08ical Psychol08Y
by
ASH GOBAR
MAR TINUS NIJHOFF / 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 Humani
ties) .
The author's conception of the philosophy of science as the 'morpho
logy 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 ge
stalt 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 phenome
nological 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 phe
nomenological 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 of Philosophy & Psychology in Concord College
and the University of Hartford, he holds the same position in Transylvania College pre
sently.
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PHILOSOPHIC FOUNDATIONS
OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
AND GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
PHILOSOPHIC FOUNDATIONS
OF GENETIC PSYCHOLOGY
AND GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
A Comparative Study of the Empirical Basis, Theoretical Structure,
and Epistemological Groundwork of European Biological Psychology
by
ASH GOBAR
Dr. of Phil.
Associate Professor of Philosophy & Psychology
Transylvania College
Sometime Fellow of the National Institute
U.S.A.
with introduction by
WOLFE MAYS
D. Phil. (Cambridge)
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science
Universiry of Manchester
England
I I
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE /1968
© J9 68 by Martinus Nijlwjf, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in a'!)' form
ISBN 978-94-015-0287-0 ISBN 978-94-015-0813-1 (eBook)
001 10.1007/978-94-015-0813-1
Dedicated to
WILLIAM JAMES
(1842-1910)
the founder of Systematic Psychology
and the forerunner of Phenomenology
in America
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The writing of this treatise has been honoured by a grant from the
National Institute (N.I.M.H. Postdoctorate Research Fellowship
1959-61). This grant, besides being financial subsidy, bestowed an
acedernic freedom which provided the optimum psychological context
for creative research.
The author remains indebted to the Institut J.-J. Rousseau of the
Universite de Geneve where, during the year of his residence as a
Travelling Fellow (1960), Prof. Jean Piaget, and the members of the
Centre d'Epistemologie Genetique, discussed with him the theoretical
problems of genetic psychology, and Dr. G. Noelting kindly made
available the results of his "longitudinal studies."
The author is grateful to Columbia University for having extended
to him the special privileges of a Guest Scholar (1961), during the
second year of the research, when the main draft of the work was
written. And the author must express here his ancient gratitude to
the Departments of Psychology and Philosophy of the University of
Wisconsin.
The names of the thinkers whose writings have been a special source
of inspiration to me may be recorded here. The writings ofWm.James,
W. Kohler,J. Piaget, F.J.J. Buytendijk, B. Rensch, N. Tinbergen, and
E. G. Boring in psychology and biology. And, in philosophy, German
Phenomenology (especially N. Hartmann and E. Cassirer) and Amer
ican Realism (especially A. N. Whitehead) as well as some of my
contemporaries in the phisolophy of science.
May this treatise prove worthy of the faith placed in it by my friend,
Wm. G. Morrison, whose early death deprives it of its oldest patron.
Martinus Nijhoff N.V., where Craftsmanship is valued above all,
has saved this work from Compromise.
ACKNOWLEDG EMENT TO PUBLISHERS
The following publishing companies have generously granted the
author permission for brief citations and illustrations from their
publications (cf. Bibliography):
Presses U niversitaires de France, Paris, France.
Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
M. Nijhoff N.V., The Hague, Netherlands.
Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. (International Library of Psychology
and Philosophy), London, England.
Columbia University Press, New York, New York.
Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.
Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
Basic Books Inc., New York, N.Y.
Doubleday & Co., New York, N.Y.
Dover Publications Inc., New York, N.Y.
Henry Holt & Co., New York, N.Y.
Humanities Press Inc., New York, N.Y.
Alfred A. Knopflnc., New York, N.Y.
Macmillan Co., New York, N.Y.
Principia Press Inc., Bloomington, Indiana.
C. C. Thomas Co., Springfield, Illinois.
J. Wiley Inc., New York, N.Y.