Da Blob
Banned
Of course I tripped across this while looking for something else (Something on the relationship between Hofstrader's recursion and Gestalten)
The problem with Gestalt is not that it is invalid, it is just so damned difficult to think about. We have these ingrained habits of thought. It seems that we have been conditioned to believe that thought only works in one direction towards destructive analysis. Analysis literally means 'tearing to pieces', it is not a creative process, yet Gestalt is a creative process by which the Whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. If the only product of analysis is a detailed measurement of the parts and a precise definition of the sum of those parts - what then is the next step - cognitively, once analysis has provided all the information possible by 'de-construction'?
Anyway there are some interesting links here...
http://www.gestalttheory.net/info/links.html
The problem with Gestalt is not that it is invalid, it is just so damned difficult to think about. We have these ingrained habits of thought. It seems that we have been conditioned to believe that thought only works in one direction towards destructive analysis. Analysis literally means 'tearing to pieces', it is not a creative process, yet Gestalt is a creative process by which the Whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. If the only product of analysis is a detailed measurement of the parts and a precise definition of the sum of those parts - what then is the next step - cognitively, once analysis has provided all the information possible by 'de-construction'?
Anyway there are some interesting links here...
http://www.gestalttheory.net/info/links.html