This work gives insight into the philosophical influence Ernst Mach (1838-1916) has had on leading Viennese physicists and philosophers of his time by relating the ideas and works of these men to Mach's phenomenalism. The relation between Mach and the University of Vienna Philosophical Society is also examined. In the process little-known documents and correspondence from Mach are presented. Additionally, this extensive research helps clarify the conflict between Mach and most physicists over the reality of atoms and places the claim (...) of Mach and his followers to represent science and philosophy of science against the claim of Planck and Einstein that phenomenalism and positivism were not even compatible with science. Audience: This is an ideal book for both graduate students and scholars in the field of history and philosophy of science. (shrink)

The theory of Gestalt qualities arose from the attempt to explain how a melody is distinct from the collection of the tones which it comprehends. In this essay from 1890 Christian von Ehrenfels coined the term 'Gestaltqualität' to capture the idea of a pattern which is comprehensible in a single experience. This idea can be applied not only to melodies and other occurrent patterns, but also to continuant patterns such as shapes and colour arrays such as the array of a (...) chess board. Ehrenfel's essay gave birth to the Gestalt movement in psychology. (shrink)

Ernst Mach's atomistic theory of sensation faces problems in doing justice to our ability to perceive and remember complex phenomena such as melodies and shapes. Christian von Ehrenfels attempted to solve these problems with his theory of "Gestalt qualities", which he sees as entities depending one-sidedly on the corresponding simple objects of sensation. We explore the theory of dependence relations advanced by Ehrenfels and show how it relates to the views on the objects of perception advanced by Husserl and by (...) the Gestalt psychologists. (shrink)

Ganz allgemein hat sich die Ansicht festgesetzt, daß eine psychische Betätigung ohne irgendwelce Intensität einen Widerspruch involvieren würde. Eine Null von Intensität, meint man, müsse für die psychische Tätigkeit selbst den Nullpunkt bilden. Danach käme dann z. B., auch wenn wir einen Begriff wie Wahrheit, Beziehung, Zukunft oder irgendeinen Zahlbegriff denken, diesem Denken immer eine Intensität zu. Und ebenso wäre jedem Urteilsakt und jeder Gemütstätigkeit, dem ruhigen Vorsatz nicht minder als dem aufgeregten Affekt, stets eine gewisse Intensität eigen. Doch, während (...) beim Empfinden die Intensität des Empfindens von der des Empfundenen abhängig ist, konnte beim Denken jener Begriffe eine ähnliche Abhängigkeit seiner Intensität von der im Inhalt Gedachten beschlossenen nicht angenommen werden. Denn was z. B. fände sich in der Zahl 3, das der Intensität eines Schalles oder Geruches verwandt wäre? (shrink)