Contributions to the Analysis of Visual Perception—First Paper: Some Observations on the Combination of Visual Impressions into Units

Abstract

Without a doubt, the view is now commonly held that there is only one source of knowledge in psychology: experience. And naturally, it is primarily a question of inner experience or introspection. It is known, however, that in comparison to outer perception, inner perception is so unreliable that only few of the facts obtained by this method can really be stated with confidence. If we look at the data from different experimenters of today, there are very few results of introspection that are even to some extent in agreement. Because of this, introspection alone as it is normally practiced does not give a solid enough foundation for developing the science of psychology. In fact, the scientists who try to discover comprehensive laws that rule mental events also use numerous hypothetical assumptions, so that the reliability of their claims naturally suffers considerably.

Translated from Beitrage zur Analyse der Gesichtswahrnehmungen. Erste Abhandlung. Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindrucken zu Einheiten, by F. Schumann, 1900. Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane 23:1–32. Copyright 1900 by Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth. Translated with permission.