Gestalt

One historical remark is made by Ebbinghaus: 'Psychology has a long past, but only a short history.' (Boring, 1957) The statement does not seem to agree with Wertheimer, who is credited as the senior founder of Gestalt psychology. (From now on, G. P. is represented for Gestalt Psychology.) For him, as a school of psychology, G. P. has no 'Zeitgeist' of either long past or short history. It stated very definitely with a particular research carried out in 1912, that is, the well-known phi-phenomenon. History as is often thought, has no precise point of beginning. But G. P. was apparently and abruptly born with the paper on phi-phenomenon. Let us disregard Wertheimer's intention to minimize the historical influences upon G. P. There are some forerunners one needs to be concerned with, for the complete understanding of G. P. The antecedents of the gestalt movement even can be traced back to 500 B. C.