Carl Stumpf (; 21 April 1848 – 25 December 1936) was a
German philosopher and
psychologist. He studied with
Franz Brentano at the University of Würzburg before receiving his doctorate at University of Göttingen in 1868. At Göttingen, he also worked and
Hermann Lotze, who is famous for his work in perception. Stumpf is known for his work on the
psychology of tones. He had an important influence on his students
Wolfgang Köhler and
Kurt Koffka who were instrumental in the founding of
Gestalt psychology as well as
Kurt Lewin, who was also a part of the Gestalt group and was key in the establishment of experimental social psychology in America. Stumpf is considered one of the pioneers of
comparative musicology and
ethnomusicology, as documented in his study of the origins of human musical cognition
The Origins of Music (1911). He held positions in the philosophy departments at the Universities of Göttingen, Würzburg, Prague, Munich and Halle, before obtaining a professorship at the
University of Berlin.