Vittorio Benussi on Salience and Inadequate Perception

Essentially theoretical papers are scarce in Vittorio Benussi's published works, but some are among his unpublished manuscripts. Two manuscripts are presented that illuminate essential aspects of his theory of perception, inspired by the sophisticated views of his teacher Alexius Meinong and the Graz School. The first is a short manuscript on perceptual salience (Auffälligkeit), which develops some ideas of Meinong's theory of objects (Gegenstandstheorie), the second is the draft of his talk at the VI Congress of the Society for Experimental Psychology (April 1914), later replaced in the conference proceedings by a wholly rewritten paper. A comparison of these two texts can clarify Benussi's relationship with theory and, more specifically, his position in contrast with the antagonistic approaches of the Berlin School of Gestalt psychology.