Vittorio Benussi in the History of Psychology: New Ideas of a Century Ago

384 Pages·2018·5.76 MB·English

by  Mauro Antonelli

Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind 21
Mauro Antonelli
Vittorio
Benussi in
the History of
Psychology
New Ideas of a Century Ago
Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind
Volume 21
Series Editors
Henrik Lagerlund, The University of Western Ontario, Canada
Mikko Yrjönsuuri, Academy of Finland and University of Jyväskylä, Finland
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Lilli Alanen, Uppsala University, Sweden
Joël Biard, University of Tours, France
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Eyjólfur Emilsson, University of Oslo, Norway
André Gombay, University of Toronto, Canada
Patricia Kitcher, Columbia University, USA
Simo Knuuttila, University of Helsinki, Finland
Béatrice M. Longuenesse, New York University, USA
Calvin Normore, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6539
Mauro Antonelli
Vittorio Benussi
in the History of Psychology
New Ideas of a Century Ago
Mauro Antonelli
Dipartimento di Psicologia
Università di Milano - Bicocca
Milano, Italy
Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind
ISBN 978-3-319-96682-3 ISBN 978-3-319-96684-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96684-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950669
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Vittorio Benussi’s portrait by Gino Parin (Benussi Archive, box 18, file 5)
v
Acknowledgements
This monograph broadens, completes and systematises a series of essays, editions
and papers I devoted to the figure and work of Vittorio Benussi during the last two
decades. My wish is to offer a well-rounded historical and systematic reconstruction
of his work, while also shedding light on important influences on his life, research
and complex career.
I wish to express my gratitude to all the institutions and people who have made
my research possible and supported it throughout this long period of time. First of
all, I wish to thank the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung
(FWF, Vienna) for funding (project-P7199 HIS) my first research on Benussi at the
Institute of Philosophy and at the Forschungsstelle und Dokumentationszentrum für
österreichische Philosophie of the University of Graz. Among the Graz colleagues,
I wish particularly to express my gratitude to Harald Berger, Thomas Binder,
Wolfgang L. Gombocz, Johann Christian Marek and Werner Sauer for their continu-
ous support and friendship throughout the years. A special mention goes to Rudolf
Haller, who recently passed away, and who was editor of the series Studien zur
österreichischen Philosophie, in which I published my first book on Benussi and an
edition of Benussi’s German writings.
A special thought also goes to another prematurely departed mentor, Giuseppe
Mucciarelli, who during my years at the University of Bologna shared my interest
in Benussi and decidedly stimulated the continuation of my research.
I also thank all the institutions that have provided me with their archival material:
the Archives of the Universities of Graz and Padua, the General Administrative
Archive of Vienna and the Central State Archive of Rome, the University Library
and the Forschungsstelle und Dokumentationszentrum für österreichische Phi­
losophie of Graz, the Archivio Storico della Psicologia Italiana (Aspi, Historical
Archive of Italian Psychology) of the University of Milano-Bicocca.
Special thanks go to Pietro Rizzi and Natale Stucchi who shared the work on the
digital edition of Benussi’s Archive, which led to the founding of the Aspi Research
Centre. And many thanks to the Aspi staff: Paola Zocchi, Dario De Santis and
Elena Canadelli who over the last ten years have strongly supported my work as
vii
viii Acknowledgements
Director, thereby making possible a reality which is currently unique at an
i nternational level.
I sincerely thank Angela Tagini and Biagio Tassone for their precious assistance
in the revision of this manuscript.
Last but not least, I thank Valentina and Nicoletta for their patience. This book is
dedicated to them.
Milan
May 2018
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
2 The Austrian Path Toward Gestalt Psychology: From Brentano
to Benussi, via Meinong ............................................................................ 3
2.1 S cientific Psychology in Germany and Austria at the Turn
of the Century .................................................................................... 3
2.2 “Austrian Psychology” ....................................................................... 7
2.3 T he Empirical and Descriptive Psychology of Franz Brentano......... 14
2.3.1 A New Empirical Psychology on an Aristotelian Basis ...... 14
2.3.2 The Classification of Mental Phenomena ............................ 21
2.3.3 Descriptive Psychology and Ontology of the Mind ............. 25
2.4 Psychology in Meinong’s Philosophical Thinking ............................ 27
2.4.1 Psychology and Philosophy ................................................. 27
2.4.2 Meinong’s Pathway to Psychology ...................................... 29
2.4.3 Meinong Between Empiricism and Descriptive
Psychology ........................................................................... 33
2.4.4 Sensation, Presentation, Perception, and Structure ............. 44
2.4.5 Form and Organisation: Meinong, Stumpf, and Husserl ..... 55
2.4.6 Christian von Ehrenfels and the “Gestalt Qualities” ........... 63
2.4.7 From Gestalt Qualities to Complexions
and Founded Contents ......................................................... 70
2.4.8 Psychic Analysis .................................................................. 73
2.4.9 The Objects and Their Ordered Levels ................................ 76
2.4.10 The Production Theory: Rudolf Ameseder
and Stephan Witasek ............................................................ 90
2.4.11 The Assumption (Annahme) and the Classification
of Mental Phenomena .......................................................... 97
ix
x Contents
3 Vittorio Benussi: A Difficult Life, a Tragic Fate..................................... 101
3.1 His Personality ................................................................................... 101
3.2 From Trieste to Graz .......................................................................... 105
3.3 Benussi and the Graz School ............................................................. 112
3.4 Scientific Maturity ............................................................................. 120
3.5 The Difficult Years ............................................................................. 126
3.6 From Graz to Padua ........................................................................... 130
4 The Graz Period ........................................................................................ 145
4.1 Theoria vs Empiria ............................................................................ 145
4.2 T he Heritage of Brentano and Meinong ............................................ 147
4.3 T he Inadequate Perception of Forms ................................................. 148
4.3.1 The Optical-Geometrical Illusions ...................................... 148
4.3.2 The Illusions: Judgment Illusions vs Presentational
Inadequacy ........................................................................... 152
4.3.3 Perception and Judgment: Benussi and the Theories
of Brentano’s School ............................................................ 154
4.3.4 Presentational Inadequacy and Its Classification ................. 157
4.3.5 Act, Content and Object of Presentation ............................. 162
4.3.6 Gestalt Ambiguity ................................................................ 164
4.3.7 Phenomenal Salience (Auffälligkeit) ................................... 170
4.3.8 The Laws of the Inadequate Perception of Gestalten
and Sensory and Non-Sensory Perceptual Inadequacy........ 173
4.4 Time ................................................................................................... 176
4.4.1 Subjective and Objective Time ............................................ 176
4.4.2 The Mental Present .............................................................. 179
4.4.3 Grouping and Phrasing ........................................................ 182
4.4.4 Temporal Comparisons ........................................................ 184
4.4.5 The Tau Effect ...................................................................... 188
4.4.6 Präsenzzeit and Gegenwartszeit ........................................... 191
4.4.7 The Origin of Temporal Presentations ................................. 194
4.5 T he Phenomenology of the Latent Subject ........................................ 196
4.5.1 Benussi and Husserl ............................................................. 196
4.5.2 Static vs Genetic Phenomenology ....................................... 198
4.6 T he Benussi-Koffka Dispute. Production Theory vs
Gestalt Theory.................................................................................... 206
4.6.1 s (Sensory) and S (Non-Sensory) Apparent Motions .......... 206
4.6.2 Max Wertheimer, the φ Phenomenon
and “Physiological Short Circuits” ...................................... 211
4.6.3 Koffka and Kenkel: The β and α Motions............................ 214
4.6.4 Göttingen, 1914 ................................................................... 216
4.6.5 Koffka, 1915: The Confrontation with Benussi ................... 220
4.6.6 The Revision of Benussi’s Theory ....................................... 232
4.6.7 Benussi Between Gegenstandstheorie and Gestaltheorie .... 234