Perspectives in Experimental Phenomenology: Cesare Musatti and Stereokinetic Phenomena

Visual perception is one of the most important fields of psychological investigation in the twentieth century, which in Italy also generated a solid tradition of research. In this regard, the contribution offered by Italian experimental phenomenology (especially as a method applied to the study of perceptual phenomena) is particularly significant and original. The aim of my contribution is to investigate the pioneering phenomenological-experimental research of the Italian psychologist and psychoanalyst Cesare Musatti on stereokinesis (perception of three-dimensional reality from the motion of two-dimensional patterns) from a historical and epistemological point of view, and to highlight its critical and constructive aspects as well as the various opportunities for their development within the framework of contemporary psychological research.