This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
Progress in science has been made against the resistance of common sense. To those who can see only the obvious, each bit of scientific truth must come as a shock. Just as the philosopher and scientist have been about to agree that things are not what they seem, Kohler has presented himself with his Gestalt psychology. This is a glorification of the cult of common sense; "horse sense" might be a better term. His style is charming, and many of his ideas are stimulating, but one can almost see the thumb in the vest, and almost hear the patronizing: "Of course, that's so—common sense will tell you that!"
Kohler points out that a concept is more than a sum of its sensations; one might know all the notes that Beethoven used and yet, were that all one knew, one would know nothing of the ninth symphony. Psychology, as Kohler sees