“The basic thesis of gestalt
theory might be formulated
thus: there are contexts
in
which what is happening in
the whole cannot be deduced
from the characteristics of
the separate pieces, but
conversely; what happens
to a part of the whole is,
in clearcut cases, determined
by the laws of the inner
structure of its whole.”
Max Wertheimer,
Gestalt theory.
Social Research, 11 (translation of lecture at the Kant Society, Berlin,
1924).