In this essay Wertheimer investigated what he considered to be an essential aspect of truly productive logical processes. The syllogism modus barbara served as his paradigm. The older hypothesis that the syllogism was but a hidden induction, a petitio, was refuted; instead, a careful analysis of a number of examples showed that in really good syllogistic thinking Gestalt processes such as restructuring and recentering were involved, processes which could lead to genuinely new, often surprising insights and to scientific progress.
References
1.
EinsteinA.Ueber die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie. (10th ed.) Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1920. P. iv.
2.
EllisW. D.A source book of Gestalt psychology. New York: Humanities Press, 1950. Pp. 274–282.
3.
WertheimerM.Ueber Schlussprozesse im produktiven Denken. In Drei Abhandlungen zur Gestalttheorie. Erlangen: Philos. Akademie, 1925.
