Laudatio for Gerhard Stemberger on the Occasion of the Award of the Honorary Membership of the GTA

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Can we really perceive absences, i.e., missing things? Sartre tells us that when he arrived late for his appointment at the café, he saw the absence of his friend Pierre. Is that really what he saw? Where was it, exactly? Why didn’t Sartre see the absence of other people who were not there? Why did other people who were there not see the absence of Pierre? The perception of absences gives rise to a host of conundrums and is constantly on the verge of conceptual confusion. Here I focus on the need to be clear about four sorts of distinctions: (i) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something that is absent; (ii) the difference between perceiving an absence and an absence of perceiving; (iii) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving something as an absence; and (iv) the difference between perceiving an absence and perceiving that something is absent.
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On Perceiving Abs nces

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The paper celebrates the person and work of Vittorio Benussi, a forgotten genius of psychology. In particular, it addresses the two most important scientific projects that Benussi developed during his time in Graz and Padua, respectively: the psychology of perception and the psychology of emotions and the unconscious. It highlights the originality and topicality of Benussi’s work and emphasizes its proximity to the latest trends in these research fields.
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Vittorio Benussi, the Gustav Mahler of Psychology<xref ref-type="fn" rid="gth-2022-0016_fn_002">*</xref>

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In 1940, Wolfgang Metzger began a profound reflection on the meaning of the phenomenological approach to Gestalt psychology, which had its starting point in the rejection of what he called the “Eleatic” or “Eleatic–Rationalistic Postulate,” that is, the notion that, in his opinion, had dominated Western scientific and philosophical thought of the past centuries, according to which any assertion about the state of things that could lead to self-contradictory conclusions had to be considered unfounded. On the basis of this rejection and with exclusive reference to access to experiential data, Metzger proposed to distinguish five meanings of reality: (1) the physical or experiential world; (2) the intuitive or experienced world; (3) the experienced world (met, Angetroffen) in contrast to the represented world; (4) the something or fullness in contrast to emptiness or nothingness; (5) the real in contrast to the apparent. For Metzger (1950), this concept, although primarily related to perception, has far-reaching implications for our conception of others and of society. We question here the validity of Metzger’s concept, its explanatory significance, and its relation to other phenomenological concepts, such as that of Merleau-Ponty.</abstract>

Thinking on Reality: Metzger and the Rejection of the “Eleatic Postulate”<xref ref-type="fn" rid="gth-2022-0017_fn_002">1</xref>

The Experimental Phenomenology of Perception. A Collective Reflection on the Present and Future of this Approach

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The study of cases of illusory or unstable perception of some visual stimuli allows exploration of the psychology of perception of the surrounding world. The wired construction known as “Necker cube” is one such stimulus: it can be perceived as a cube whose front face is seen higher than the back face or vice versa. The switch can occur intentionally or spontaneously. The investigations were focused on switching parameters, relation of the switching to eye position, pre-history, and environment. Here we define that the kernel of the problem is recognizing the 2D drawing as a 3D Necker cube. To this end, we have expanded Gestalt's psychology methods that allow us to recognize 2D figures in drawings for recognizing 3D figure in a flat drawing (including the Necker cube). The presented algorithm for recognizing the cube based on the imitation principle allowed the development of the model of switching between two possible perceptions of the Necker cube. The paper shows that the predictions are in conformity with previously available experimental data. The results confirm the imitation principle of perception, and suggest expanding our research on perception to a wider class of 3D figures, opening a window into the internal processes of perception.
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Gestalt road to Necker cube perception

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The analysis of social and economic phenomena has a long Gestalt-theoretical tradition but is currently seen rather as a niche subject. In this article, recent important approaches are presented that explicitly or implicitly refer to Gestalt-theoretical considerations. The particular relevance of narratives is pointed out. In addition, further analytical challenges are discussed.
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Gestalt Theory and Socioeconomic Analyses

Report of the 22nd Scientific Conference of the Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications in Trieste (2022)

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Gestalt Theory

The journal Gestalt Theory was founded in 1979 in Germany as an international multidisciplinary journal to establish a platform for the globally ramified research activities built on the fundamental scientific findings of the Berlin School of Gestalt theory and its legacy. The Journal publishes articles that present a holistic system-theoretical, phenomenological or experimental analysis and addresses international scientists of any field where these approaches are represented, such as psychology, philosophy, pedagogy, social and life sciences, economics, art, communication sciences in a fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue. It contains original contributions, reviews, discussions and announcements in these fields and provides a wide overview of the current scientific research and advances in multidisciplinary gestalt-theoretical perspective.  Gestalt Theory is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal. The journal has no article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges.    Rejection Rate   30%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  BACK ISSUES: Selected full text articles from the period 1979-2008: www.gestalttheory.net/cms/index.php?page=gestalt-theory-early-archives-1979-2008  2009-2016 (Krammer, Vienna): www.gestalttheory.net/cms/archive/  Further information: www.gestalttheory.net/cms/index.php?page=onlinejournal 

Gestalt Theory

Volume 44 (2022): Issue 3 (December 2022)

Laudatio for Gerhard Stemberger on the Occasion of the Award of the Honorary Membership of the GTA

On Perceiving Abs nces

Vittorio Benussi, the Gustav Mahler of Psychology^*

Thinking on Reality: Metzger and the Rejection of the “Eleatic Postulate”¹

The Experimental Phenomenology of Perception. A Collective Reflection on the Present and Future of this Approach

Gestalt road to Necker cube perception

Gestalt Theory and Socioeconomic Analyses

Report of the 22nd Scientific Conference of the Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications in Trieste (2022)

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