(1859–1933). Austrian philosopher and psychologist, who was a student of
Franz Brentano in Vienna and is remembered as a precursor of
Gestalt psychology. His important paper
Über Gestalt Qualitäten (On Gestalt Qualities) appeared in 1891. Although influenced to some extent by Mach's
Analysis of Sensations (1886), this was an original and timely contribution to the psychology of
perception. Ehrenfels introduced the term 'Gestalt qualities' to denote the perception of form or melody which, though based on sensory stimulation, can in no sense be regarded as inherent in the pattern of stimulation. In his view, Gestalt qualities represent novel elements in the field of perception, and this is well brought out in the phenomena of transposition. For example, a form such as a square or circle is recognized as such even after changes in its size or colour. Similarly, a melody is recognized even when played in a different key. Indeed object constancy, whether spatial or temporal, is perhaps the most basic property of a Gestalt quality.
Ehrenfels, and after him Alexius Meinong (1853–1920), elaborated the system further, pointing out for instance that a particular direction of change might be a potent source of Gestalt qualities, as when one observes a slowly spreading blush. Gestalt qualities may also combine with one another to produce superordinate Gestalt qualities, as commonly found in music. Although no precise theory was put forward to explain Gestalt qualities, Ehrenfels came very close to formulating the principle of isomorphism, which is usually attributed to
Max Wertheimer and
Wolfgang Köhler, and which played so important a role in the Gestalt theory.
The idea of Gestalt qualities was then little known outside Austria, but it seems to have inspired the English philosopher and psychologist George Frederick Stout to write his two-volume
Analytic Psychology (1896).
(Published 1987)— O. L. Zangwill
