This paper analyses the method of demonstration in experimental phenomenology. The theoretical basis of experimental phenomenology and meanings of demonstration in psychology are examined. The term `demonstration' in psychology typically means the presentation of concrete illustrations of facts generally to teach or to persuade scientifically, the reference to conclusive observational proof derived from theoretical arguments and opposition to the definition of experiment. The methodological inadequacies of these meanings for experimental phenomenology are illustrated. In experimental phenomenology the aim of the demonstration is to show the evidence for a law using a non-propositional argument. Two examples of demonstration from the studies of Wertheimer and Michotte are analysed.
Boring, E.G. (1950). A history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
2.
Boyle, D.G. (1972). Michotte's ideas. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 25, 89-91.
3.
Bozzi, P. (1989). Fenomenologia sperimentale [Experimental phenomenology] . Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
4.
Bozzi, P. (1999). Experimental phenomenology: A historical profile . In L. Albertazzi (Ed.), Shape of forms (pp. 19-50). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
5.
Gillies, D. (1993). Philosophy of science in the twentieth century: Four central themes. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
6.
Glymour, C. (1992). Thinking things through. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
7.
Hempel, C.G. (1965). Aspects of scientific explanation and other essays in the philosophy of science. New York: Free Press.
8.
Hempel, C.G., & Oppenheim, P. (1948). Studies in the logic of explanation. Philosophy of Science, 15, 135-175.
9.
Husserl, E. (1900-1901). Logische Untersuchungen [Logical investigations]. Halle, Germany: N. Niemeyer.
10.
Kanizsa, G. (1955). Margini quasi-percettivi in campi con stimolazione omogenea [Quasi-perceptual margins in homogeneously stimulated fields]. Rivista di Psicologia, 49,1, 7-30.
11.
Kanizsa, G. (1969). Perception, past experience and the impossible experiment. Acta Psychologica, 31, 66-69.
12.
Kanizsa, G. (1979). Organization in vision. New York: Praeger.
13.
Kanizsa, G. (1991). Vedere e pensare [Seeing and thinking]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
14.
Katz, D. (1935). The world of colour. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. (Original work published 1930)
15.
Köhler, W. (1940). Dynamics in psychology. New York: Liveright.
16.
McLeod, R.B. (1964). Phenomenology: A challenge to experimental psychology . In T.W. Wann (Ed.), Behaviorism and phenomenology (pp. 47-78). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
17.
Metzger, W. (1941). Psychologie [Psychology]. Darmstadt: Steinkopff.
18.
Michelson, A.A., & Morley, E.W. (1887). On the relative motion of the earth and the luminiferous ether. American Journal of Science, 34, 333-345.
19.
Michotte, A. (1946) La perception de la causalité [The perception of causality]. Louvain, Belgium: Institut Supérieur de Philosophie.
20.
Palmer, S.E. (1999). Vision science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sinico, M. (2003). Scienza degli osservabili [Science of observables] . Bologna, Italy: Pitagora.
23.
Stumpf, C. (1907). Zur Einteilung der Wissenschaften [On the classification of scientific disciplines]. Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 5, 1-94.
24.
Underwood, B.J. (1966). Experimental psychology. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.
25.
Valentine, E.R. (1982). Conceptual issues in psychology. London: Allen & Unwin.
26.
Vicario, G.B. (1993). On experimental psychology. In S.C. Masin (Ed.), Foundations of perceptual theory (pp. 197-219). Amsterdam: North-Holland .
27.
Wertheimer, M. (1912). Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung [Experimental studies on the seeing of motion]. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 61, 161-265.
28.
Wertheimer, M. (1923). Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt [Investigation of the principles of Gestalt]. Psychologische Forschung, IV, 301-350.
29.
Wertheimer, M. (1925). Ueber Gestalttheorie [On Gestalt theory]. Symposion, I, 1-24.
