Freiherr Christian von Ehrenfels (June 2 1856 in Rodaun near Vienna - September 8 1932 in Lichtenau ), Austrian philosopher, is known as one of the founders and precursors of Gestalt psychology.

Although Max Wertheimer is to be credited as the founder of the movement of Gestalt psychology, the concept of Gestalt itself was first introduced in contemporary philosophy and psychology by von Ehrenfels in his famous work "Über Gestaltqualitäten" ("On Gestalt-qualities"), in: Vierteljahresschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie, Jg. 14 (1890). The idea of Gestalt has its roots in theories by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ernst Mach. Both he and Edmund Husserl seem to have been inspired by Mach's work Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen ("Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations", 1886) to formulate their very similar concepts of Gestalt and Figural Moment respectively.

Von Ehrenfels studied philosophy at the University of Vienna with Franz Brentano and Alexius Meinong, promoted under supervision of Meinong, after the latter's move to the Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, in 1885 on the topic of "Größenrelationen und Zahlen. Eine psychologische Studie" ("Relations of magnitude and numbers. A psycological study"). He obtained his habilitiation in 1888 in Vienna with the work: "Über Fühlen und Wollen" ("On feeling and willing"). From 1896 to 1929 he was professor of philosophy at the German university of Prague.

Links

• School of Brentano
• Berlin School
• Graz School
• Short biography in German