The Landscape of War

The demanding world of emotion: A Gestalt approach to emotion experience

“…This is because the demand character of the world changes when your goals change. Dramatic examples are provided in Lewin's (1917Lewin's ( /2009) essay, the Landscape of War, written when he was an infantryman in the First World War. Before the war a particular landscape was "round, without front or behind", but when at war exactly the same landscape was experienced differently: "the expansion into infinity no longer applies unconditionally.…”

“…Before the war a particular landscape was "round, without front or behind", but when at war exactly the same landscape was experienced differently: "the expansion into infinity no longer applies unconditionally. The area seems to come to an end somewhere in the direction of the Front; the landscape is bounded" (Lewin, 1917(Lewin, /2009. Or, when an area is no longer a combat zone, "The character of danger has been abolished...Where a shallow depression [previously] struck one as good cover, one now only sees level, if gently undulating land without any actual height differences" (p. 208).…”

“…Or, when an area is no longer a combat zone, "The character of danger has been abolished...Where a shallow depression [previously] struck one as good cover, one now only sees level, if gently undulating land without any actual height differences" (p. 208). Lewin (1917Lewin ( /2009) was at pains to emphasize that such differences were phenomenologically perceived and not just "imagined".…”

Generalising from a regional case study: A dialogue with a hill

“… … if, for instance, one is confronted by a single hill, which is set into the plain as a ‘spatial form’ with its base below the surface, one can also imagine that it is merely a curvature in the plain, a bump in the ground; one can also see the hill as a ‘planar form’. Or if the pedestrian sees the fields and meadows before him as nature in the aesthetic sense, he can also well imagine the quite different landscape that the farmer would encounter here … (Lewin, 1917/2009, p. 201) What is a hill, and why would a hill offer an interesting entry point to study psychological phenomena, and with it, to propose generalisable understandings? A hill, as any other material or physical entity offered to living beings, is more than a curvature of the landscape or a pile of minerals; a hill is a place, it is perceived, interpreted, and especially for humans, it can be narrated and imagined.…”

“…… if, for instance, one is confronted by a single hill, which is set into the plain as a ‘spatial form’ with its base below the surface, one can also imagine that it is merely a curvature in the plain, a bump in the ground; one can also see the hill as a ‘planar form’. Or if the pedestrian sees the fields and meadows before him as nature in the aesthetic sense, he can also well imagine the quite different landscape that the farmer would encounter here … (Lewin, 1917/2009, p. 201)…”