Creativity:Method or Magic?

Harnad, Stevan (2007) Creativity: Method or Magic?

In: H. Cohen and B. Stemmer (eds.) Consciousness and Cognition: Fragments of Mind and Brain Amsterdam: Elsevier

http://cogprints.org/1627/

What is creativity?

A trait?

A state?

An outcome?

How? rules? training?

Lightning bolts(happy accidents?)

Objective Tests?

What’s new?

OriginalityNoveltyInnovation

Chimera

Value

Artistic creativity vs. Intellectual creativity

Practical criteriaAesthetic criteria

Algorithms and the unexpected

Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés

(Chance favors the prepared mind)

Serendipity and Pasteurization

Training?

Pòlya

Uncreative?

Problem solvingDeductionInductionLearningImitationTrial-and-errorHeuristicsAbduction

13 “Theories” of creativitymethod, memory, magic, mutation

The Unconscious mindInnate structure (abduction)Analogy (imitation)Preparation (learning)ImitationIntuition, aesthetic factors

AnomaliesConstraints (Stravinsky)Serendipity (game of chance)Mental analogsHeuristic stratgeiesImprovisation (performance, interpretation)Complementarity (collaboration, cumulativity

Stravinsky

Koestler

Lakatos

Polànyi

Csikszentmihalyi

Trait or state?

Combinatory game of chance?

J. Hadamard

Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés

(Chance favors the prepared mind)

Serendipity and Pasteurization