Synopses & Reviews
Is it a glass centerpiece--or is it really two faces?
The familiar optical illusion known as the Rubin Vase embodies the complexities of the brain's recognition of visual figures and backgrounds. Its creator's accomplishments, however, extend far beyond this well-known concept.
Edgar Rubin and Psychology in Denmark tours a tumultuous century of history, politics, culture, and thought as reflected in the intellectual life of Denmark following the Golden Age of Kierkegaard and H. C. Andersen. Rubin's scholarly journey takes him from the debate over the scientific study of "the soul" to the maturation of perceptual psychology, providing both human context for our modern understanding of consciousness and a timeline for the recognition of psychology as science. Besides his revolutionary discoveries in visual perception, less-known aspects of his work are explored, such as his observations on taste and the perception of speech, as is his relationship--and reluctant contribution--to Gestalt theory. In these pages, Rubin is portrayed as a thinker simultaneously of his time and place and distinctly universal and modern. Included in this fascinating biography:
Synopsis
This book presents a scientific biography of Edgar Rubin, one of the outstanding pioneers of perceptual psychology in the early twentieth century. It also argues for the importance of description in psychology.
Synopsis
Edgar Rubinwas one of the outstanding pioneers of perceptual psychology in the early twentiethcentury. His approach involved a turning away from an earlier elementaristic psychologytowards an approach based on perceptual wholes. Rubin s approach is closelylinked to the Gestalt revolution in perceptual psychology and was eagerly embraced by the Gestaltists. This has often led to Rubin being classified as a Gestalt psychologist. This misrepresents his position as isshown in the book. Rubin s aim was to develop a descriptivepsychology or aspective psychology to use his terminology which would do full justice to the complex nature of psychological phenomena. Thus he rejected attempts by the Gestalt psychologists to explain diverse phenomena within a single overarching framework. While Rubin is internationally often misclassified as a Gestalt psychologist, in Denmark he is often hailed as a pioneer of a specific Danish school of phenomenology. This also misrepresents Rubin s approach who was highly critical of psychological schools. His criticisms of the overambitious theoretical aspirations of Gestalt psychology, his negative attitude towards school formationin psychology were both highly prescient. What remains today of Gestalt psychologyis primarily its descriptive parts; the idea of schools of psychology, so common in earlytwentieth century psychology is now seen as a totally outmoded viewpoint. There isan interesting moral in this story for the history and status of psychology; to wit, that Rubin s emphasis on the correct description of psychological phenomena showswhat is likely to live on as classic contributions to psychology. This certainly holds forhis own work on figure and ground which, after almost a century, is still universallyknown and admired by psychologists. He was indeed a consummate psychologicalobserver. The book argues for the importance of description in psychology. "
Synopsis
Edgar Rubin
Synopsis
Edgar Rubin
About the Author
Jörgen L. Pind is a professor of psychology at the University of Iceland. After a career in experimental psychology, he worked on the History of Psychology for the past 7-8 years, writing one book and a number of articles. He has spent two sabbatical terms at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen, where he researched archival sources dealing with the history of psychology in Denmark, in particular relating to Rubin. He speaks and reads Danish fluently having been brought up bilingually in Danish and Icelandic. He studied in England (MSc and DPhil in Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex) and spent 1993-1994 as a visiting scientist at MIT.
Table of Contents
1. Growing up in Copenhagen.- Copenhagen, 1833.- Jews in Denmark.- Family and early years.- Education.- Gazing into the heavenly light.- 2. Psychology without a soul.- The lure of metaphysical longings.- A bon papa sort of man.- A quality of familiarity.- Food for thought.- Tutorials in the Philosophical Factory.- 3. Apprentice in Lehman's Laboratory.- The psychologist dares not experiment on the soul.- The intrepid experimenter.- Aristotle and Socrates in Copenhagen.- Ekliptika.- Paradoxical warmth.- Magister artium.- 4. Triumph and tragedy in academia.- Sympathetic understanding.- Purgatory in Göttingen.- Høffding's last lecture.- Rubin's revolution in perception.- The boat of my soul staggers.- Høffding's successor.- 5. Philosopher or psychologist.- Competing for a professorate.- The metaphysician in overalls.- Lehmann's successor.- The end of an era.- Drawn unto the Gestalt bandwagon.- 6. The aspective psychologist.- Explorations in the human sensorium.- An old-fashioned introspectionist.- Playing the part of your bad conscience.- Popularizing psychology.- Pest over Europe.- A taste for England.- Aspective Psychology.- Occupation, arrest, and the flight to Sweden.- 7. Final years and legacy.- The return from Sweden.- Remembering Rubin.- Rubin and Bohr.- The consummate observer.- Rubin's vase.