Abstract
Introduction
The “mirror world” (Spiegelwelt or Gegenwelt) was introduced by Jakob von Uexküll (1920;
Bernhard Hassenstein 2001). It marks a metabletic (Bertha Mook 2009; Jan Hendrik van
den Berg 1956) turn in the life sciences of the first quarter of the 20thc., contemporary with
major paradigm shifts in physics (e.g., Albert Einstein 1905; Niels Bohr 1905-1911; Erwin
Schrödinger 1926; …), philosophy (e.g., Edmund Husserl 1913; Alexius Meinong 1899; Brett
Buchanan 2008; …), psychology (e.g., Carl Stumpf 1918; Max Wertheimer 1922-3; Wolfgang
Köhler 1929; …), and the arts (for instance, Rainer Maria Rilke (1902) in poetry and Franz
Marc (1880–1916) in painting). Augmented with somewhat later ideas concerning the
genesis of awareness (Schrödinger 1958; Jason Walter Brown 1991; …) and methods of
probing (Whitman Richards 1982; Jan Koenderink 2011a; …) one obtains a rough, but
coherent account of the psychogenesis of visual awareness.
I start by introducing the concept of mirror world (Spiegelwelt) and so forth, then
discuss their role in an ontology of the objects of visual awareness, the Gestalts.
The “mirror world” (Spiegelwelt or Gegenwelt) was introduced by Jakob von Uexküll (1920;
Bernhard Hassenstein 2001). It marks a metabletic (Bertha Mook 2009; Jan Hendrik van
den Berg 1956) turn in the life sciences of the first quarter of the 20thc., contemporary with
major paradigm shifts in physics (e.g., Albert Einstein 1905; Niels Bohr 1905-1911; Erwin
Schrödinger 1926; …), philosophy (e.g., Edmund Husserl 1913; Alexius Meinong 1899; Brett
Buchanan 2008; …), psychology (e.g., Carl Stumpf 1918; Max Wertheimer 1922-3; Wolfgang
Köhler 1929; …), and the arts (for instance, Rainer Maria Rilke (1902) in poetry and Franz
Marc (1880–1916) in painting). Augmented with somewhat later ideas concerning the
genesis of awareness (Schrödinger 1958; Jason Walter Brown 1991; …) and methods of
probing (Whitman Richards 1982; Jan Koenderink 2011a; …) one obtains a rough, but
coherent account of the psychogenesis of visual awareness.
I start by introducing the concept of mirror world (Spiegelwelt) and so forth, then
discuss their role in an ontology of the objects of visual awareness, the Gestalts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Gestalt Theory |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |