Principles of Topological Psychology

PRINCIPLES OF TOPOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY by KURT LEWIN. Originally published in 1936. PREFACE by DR. WOLFGANG KOHLER Swarthmore College Swarthmore: DEAR KOHLER This book is the result of a very slow growth. I remember the moment when more than ten years ago it occurred to me that the figures on the blackboard which were to illustrate some problems for a group in psychology might after all be not merely illustrations but representations of real concepts. Much interested in the theory of science, I had already in 1912 as a student defended the thesis against a then fully accepted philo sophical dictum that psychology, dealing with manifolds of coexist ing facts, would be finally forced to use not only the concept of time but that of space too. Knowing something of the general theory of point sets, I felt vaguely that the young mathematical discipline topology might be of some help in making psychology a real science. I began studying topology and making use of its concepts, which soon appear