Gestalt and Psychology

In the past century, Gestalt Theory has confirmed Kant's thesis that structure in the field of perception neither is given as such nor is an abstraction from an array of Sense Data, but is actively incorporated, by mental processes, into what is immediately perceived.  So, since such studies do not pertain primarily to behavior, they are more appropriately termed 'Gestalt Cognition', rather than the more common 'Gestalt Psychology'.  The latter studies, instead, would begin with the structuring of basic motility, e. g. the coordination of the limbs in walking, and extend to the organization of one's various pursuits and activities, e. g. one's plans and schedules.  Now, Kant's main innovation in this respect, likely influenced by Rousseau's concept of a General Will, is the concept of a Gestalt of all Rational agents, a concept possessed by each of the agents, thus determining the conduct of each.  But, this trans-personal Gestalt remains heuristic, functioning concretely as a constraint on certain desires, e. g. to make a false promise.  So, the actual effect on behavior of that concept of a Gestalt is not a Gestalt, i. e. it does not further organize one's conduct.  In a different context, he does propose that History, terminating in universal peace, functions as a Gestalt of human affairs, even deceivingly, e. g. provoking conflict, so it is in this precursor of the Dialectical concept of History that his extension of Gestalt Psychology to a concrete social scope can be found.