Formal qualities

Liliana Albertazzi

pp. 63-87

in: Roberto Poli (ed), Consciousness, knowledge, and truth, Berlin, Springer, 1993

Abstract

What is a form? This question stands midway between the theory of perception and the theory of knowledge. Gestalt psychology was born from the question and developed a rich body of phenomenal analysis of the concept of form, beginning with perception, and in particular visual and aural perception. Gestalt psychology conducted an exceptional number of experiments in this field, although it did not always taken the necessary pains to give univocal definition to the theoretical basis of the problem.' Within Gestalt, in fact, theoreticians of form took up very different positions on the principles that regulate the perception of forms: suffice it to mention the various conceptions developed by the schools of Graz and Berlin.