Gestalt and Engineering: A Virtual Meeting of Two Cultures

Abstract

Abstract This paper dwells in the gray area of integration. It brings an attempt to analyze a process in the engineering discipline from a humanistic Gestalt point of view. The paper looks at the engineering design process as a problem-solving process in the engineering discipline and at the Gestalt cycle of experience as a problem-solving process in the humanistic discipline. A brief description of the engineering design process is given and compared to the Gestalt cycle of experience. The paper goes through the design process and shows the similarity of its basic elements to the basic elements of the cycle of experience. While doing so, it also states the differences, which are caused by the different cultures of the two disciplines. The paper concludes with a representation of the two processes on a time versus energy level scale.