“ No one can understand a game of chess if he only observes the movements that are verified in a corner of the board " (Kohle)
The concept of structure is related to the terms' form ',' configuration 'and' frame '.
Structuralism has often been opposed to atomicism or associationism, in such a way that it speaks of a structuralist conception but also, simultaneously of a structuralist method that is cntrapated with the analytical and synthetic method of decomposition and recomposition of elements. But some authors claim that the atomist method is not necessarily opposed to the structural method, but can be used in addition.
In psychology, the term structure is usually translated through the German word [ref: Gestalt]] and therefore we can speak of 'gestaltism' as synonym of 'structuralism'. This line has fundamentally criticized the basic assumptions of associationism ([behaviourism).
Dilthey developed the notion of structure applicable to the sciences of the spirit. While in psychology 'structure' is a concept closer to 'configuration', Dilthey predominates the idea of 'meaningful connection', an idea in which the temporal and historical element is particularly relevant. Subjectively, structural totalities appear as experiences and objectively as forms of spirit. Structures as significant connections cannot be explained: they can only be described and understood.
Not all philosophical lines coincide in the notion of structure as it appears in psychology and in the sciences of spirit. They even point out that this is insufficient to elucidate the very concept of structure. Russell has pointed out, for example, that the notion of structure cannot be applied to sets or collections (where the 'whole' determines the 'part') but only to relationships. The structure is then function of relational systems.
Philosophical Implications of Structuralism
Michael Foucault and the Disciplinary Society