ABSTRACT
Carl Stumpf (pronounced “Shtoompf”), whose last name can be translated into English as “dull” or “blunt,” was neither. Instead, he was a prominent and effective advocate of the new experimental psychology of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular he supported the objectivity and precision of experimental psychology. Stumpf has received less recognition in Englishlanguage histories of psychology than he deserves. He was an ingenious experimenter, a pioneer in the psychology of hearing, a perceptive theoretician, the founder of a major institute of psychology in Berlin (the most prestigious German university of the time), the individual behind the establishment of one of the most influential ethnomusicological collections in the world, and a significant forerunner, promoter, and critic of Gestalt theory.
