The Future of Post-Human Creative Thinking€¦ · Physical Challenges to Hyper-Spatial Consciousness.....74 Table 1.22. The Theory of Floating Consciousness.....75 Table 1.23. The

The Future of

Post-Human Creative Thinking

The Future of

Post-Human Creative Thinking A Preface to a New Theory

of Invention and Innovation

By

Peter Baofu

CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARS PUBLISHING

The Future of Post-Human Creative Thinking, by Peter Baofu

This book first published 2009

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2009 by Peter Baofu

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-0488-6, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0488-2

_______________________________________

To Those Beyond Convergent and Divergent Thinking

.

________________________________________

BOOKS ALSO BY PETER BAOFU

Category I: Social Sciences and Related Fields

● The Future of Post-Human Mass Media (2009)

● The Rise of Authoritarian Liberal Democracy (2007)

● Beyond the World of Titans, and the Remaking of World Order (2007)

● Beyond Capitalism to Post-Capitalism (2005)

● Volume 1: Beyond Democracy to Post-Democracy (2004)

● Volume 2: Beyond Democracy to Post-Democracy (2004)

● The Future of Capitalism and Democracy (2002)

Category II: Natural Sciences and Related Fields

● The Future of Post-Human Engineering (2009)

● The Future of Post-Human Unconsciousness (2008)

● The Future of Complexity (2007)

● Beyond Nature and Nurture (2006)

● The Future of Post-Human Space-Time (2006)

● The Future of Post-Human Consciousness (2004)

Category III: Formal Sciences and Related Fields

● The Future of Post-Human Mathematical Logic (2008)

● The Future of Information Architecture (2008)

The Future of Post-Human Creative Thinking

viii

Category IV: The Humanities and Related Fields

● The Future of Post-Human Knowledge (2008)

● The Future of Aesthetic Experience (2007)

● Beyond Civilization to Post-Civilization (2006)

● Volume 1: The Future of Human Civilization (2000)

● Volume 2: The Future of Human Civilization (2000)

CONTENTS

List of Tables...................................................................................................... xi

Foreword......................................................................................................... xvii

Acknowledgments............................................................................................. xix

List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................ xxi

Part One: Introduction

Chapter One. Introduction—The Wonder of Creative Thinking ........................ 3

The Fashionable Nonsense on Creative Thinking........................................ 3 The Multiple Dimensions of Creativity ....................................................... 4 Creativity, Invention, and Innovation .......................................................... 5 The Theoretical Debate................................................................................ 6 The Comprehensive Theory of Creativity.................................................. 12 Theory and Meta-Theory ........................................................................... 13

The Logic of Existential Dialectics............................................................ 13 Sophisticated Methodological Holism ....................................................... 33 Chapter Outline.......................................................................................... 39 Three Clarifications ................................................................................... 40

Part Two: Invention

Chapter Two. Invention and Its Risk .............................................................. 109

The Exploration of Invention ................................................................. 109

Invention and the Mind............................................................................ 109

Invention and Nature................................................................................ 118

Invention and Society .............................................................................. 129

Invention and Culture .............................................................................. 146

The Uncertainty of Invention .................................................................. 163


x

Part Three: Innovation

Chapter Three. Innovation and Its Costs ......................................................... 175

The Transformation of Innovation........................................................... 175

Innovation and the Mind.......................................................................... 175

Innovation and Nature.............................................................................. 182

Innovation and Society ............................................................................ 195

Innovation and Culture ............................................................................ 212

The Downsides of Innovation .................................................................. 229

Part Four: Conclusion

Chapter Four. Conclusion—The Future of Creative Thinking ....................... 241

The Twin Faces of Creative Thinking .................................................... 241

1st Thesis: The Convention-Novelty Principle ......................................... 247

2nd

Thesis: The Absoluteness-Relativeness Principle .............................. 250

3rd Thesis: The Simpleness-Complicatedness Principle........................... 252

4th Thesis: The Openness-Hiddenness Principle ...................................... 253

5th Thesis: The Symmetry-Asymmetry Principle..................................... 254

6th Thesis: The Regression-Progression Principle.................................... 257

7th Thesis: The Post-Human Turn ............................................................ 259

Beyond Convergent and Divergent Thinking .......................................... 260

Bibliography ................................................................................................... 331

Index................................................................................................................ 341

TABLES

Category I. The Theoretical Debate on Creative Thinking

Table 1.1. The Multiple Dimensions of Creativity.........................................42

Table 1.2. Creativity, Invention, and Innovation ...........................................43

Table 1.3. The Theoretical Debate on Creative Thinking ..............................45

Table 2.1. The Psychological Stages of Creativity ......................................165

Table 2.2. The Debate on the Patent System................................................166

Table 2.3. The Debate on the Biological Theory of Creativity

and Madness...............................................................................168

Table 2.4. The Possibilities of Invention, and Its Limits..............................171

Table 3.1. Economic Properties of the Creative Industries ..........................230

Table 3.2. Computer Supported Cooperative Work.....................................231

Table 3.3. The Debate on Intuitive Inspiration ............................................232

Table 3.4. The Promises of Innovation, and Its Pitfalls ...............................236

Table 4.1. Creative Techniques and Traits...................................................263

Table 4.2. The Desirability of Creativity, and Its Dark Sides ......................264

Table 4.3. Creative Potential and the Average Individual............................266

Category II: Visions on Nature

Table 1.4. The Theoretical Debate on Space-Time........................................53

Table 1.5. The Technological Frontiers of the Micro-World .........................55

Table 1.6. Theoretical Speculations of Multiverses .......................................56

Table 1.7. Main Reasons for Altering Space-Time . ......................................57


xii

Category III: Visions on the Mind

Table 1.8. The Conceptual Dimensions of Consciousness

(and Other Mental States) ............................................................58

Table 1.9. The Theoretical Levels of Consciousness


Table 1.10. The Thematic Issues of Consciousness


Table 1.11. Having, Belonging, and Being in Consciousness


Table 1.12. The Having-Ness of Consciousness


Table 1.13. The Belonging-Ness of Consciousness


Table 1.14. The Being-Ness of Consciousness


Table 1.15. Cognitive Partiality in Different Mental States ............................67

Table 1.16. Emotional Non-Neutrality and Behavioral Alteration

in Different Mental States ............................................................68

Table 1.17. The Limits of Intuition in Unconsciousness.................................69

Table 1.18. The Wealth/Poverty Dialectics in Different Mental States:

The Case of Cognition..................................................................70

Table 1.19. The Wealth/Poverty Dialectics in Different Mental States:

The Case of Emotion and Behavior .............................................71

Table 1.20. The Theoretical Debate on Nature and Nurture ...........................72

Table 1.21. Physical Challenges to Hyper-Spatial Consciousness.................74

Table 1.22. The Theory of Floating Consciousness ........................................75

Table 1.23. The Potential of Unfolding Unconsciousness ..............................77

Table 1.24. The Future Exploration of Unfolding Unconsciousness ..............78

Table 1.25. Posthuman-Ism, Post-Humanism, and Trans-Humanism ............79

Tables

xiii

Category IV. Visions on Society (Socio-Political)

Table 1.26. Beyond the World of Titans, and the Remaking

of World Order.............................................................................80

Table 1.27. The Origins of Authoritarian Liberal Democracy........................81

Table 1.28. The Theory of Post-Democracy I:

The Priority of Freedom over Equality ........................................82

Table 1.29. The Theory of Post-Democracy II:

The Priority of Equality over Freedom .......................................84

Table 1.30. The Theory of Post-Democracy III:

The Transcendence of Freedom and Equality ..............................85

Table 1.31. Democracy, Non-Democracy, and Post-Democracy....................87

Table 1.32. Multiple Causes of the Emergence of

Post-Democracy ...........................................................................90

Table 1.33. Some Clarifications on Post-Capitalism

and Post-Democracy ....................................................................92

Category V. Visions on Society (Socio-Economic)

Table 1.34. The Theory of Post-Capitalism I.1: By Group—

Ex: Spiritual/Communal in the Trans-Feminine Calling..............96

Table 1.35. The Theory of Post-Capitalism I.2: By Nation-State—

Ex: Spiritual/Communal in the Trans-Sinitic Calling .................97

Table 1.36. The Theory of Post-Capitalism I.3: By Region—

Ex: Spiritual/Communal in the Trans-Islamic Calling .................98

Table 1.37. The Theory of Post-Capitalism I.4: By Universe—

Ex: Spiritual/Communal in the Trans-Outerspace Calling ..........99

Table 1.38. The Theory of Post-Capitalism II: Spiritual/

Individualistic in the Post-Human Elitist Calling ......................100

Table 1.39. Capitalism, Non-Capitalism, and Post-Capitalism ....................102

Table 1.40. Multiple Causes of the Emergence of Post-Capitalism..............105


xiv

Category VI: Visions on Methodology

Table 4.4. Sophisticated Methodological Holism. .......................................267

Table 4.5. On Reductionism and Reverse-Reductionism.............................270

Category VII: Visions on Ontology

Table 4.6. The Conception of Existential Dialectics. ...................................273

Table 4.7. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics I:

The Principles.............................................................................275

Table 4.8. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics II:

The Principles as Short Cuts. .....................................................285

Table 4.9. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics III:

The Principles as Family Resemblances. ...................................287

Table 4.10. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics IV:

The Dialectic Constraints Imposed by the Principles.................288

Table 4.11. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics V:

Further Clarifications. ................................................................291

Table 4.12. The Syntax of Existential Dialectics VI:

The Dilemma of Specific vs. General Ontology. .......................293

Table 4.13. The Semantics of Existential Dialectics. ...................................295

Table 4.14. The Pragmatics of Existential Dialectics....................................296

Table 4.15. The Freedom/Unfreedom Dialectics ..........................................298

Table 4.16. The Equality/Inequality Dialectics.............................................301

Table 4.17. The Duality of Oppression in Existential Dialectics:

Oppression and Self-Oppression ................................................303

Table 4.18. The Structure of Existential Dialectics I:

The Freedom/Unfreedom and Equality/Inequality Dialectics ....305

Table 4.19. The Structure of Existential Dialectics II:

The Wealth/Poverty Dialectics...................................................306

Table 4.20. The Structure of Existential Dialectics III:

The Civilization/Barbarity Dialectics.........................................307

Tables

xv

Category VIII: Visions on Culture

Table 4.21. The Theoretical Debate on Civilization .....................................308

Table 4.22. No Freedom Without Unfreedom

in the Civilizing Processes .........................................................309

Table 4.23. No Equality Without Inequality

in the Civilizing Processes .........................................................311

Table 4.24. Five Theses on Post-Civilization................................................313

Table 4.25. Barbarity, Civilization, and Post-Civilization ............................314

Table 4.26. Types of Super Civilization in the Cosmos ...............................315

Table 4.27. The Civilizational Project from Pre-Modernity

to After-Postmodernity ..............................................................317

Table 4.28. Civilizational Holism .................................................................319

Table 4.29. Theories on Civilizational Holism . ...........................................322

Category IX: Visions on History

Table 4.30. The Trinity of Pre-Modernity.....................................................326

Table 4.31. The Trinity of Modernity ...........................................................327

Table 4.32. The Trinity of Post-Modernity ...................................................329

Table 4.33. The Trinity of After-Postmodernity ...........................................330

________________________________________

FOREWORD

The beginning of the 21st century has placed an onus on societies

everywhere—a call for change, a drive for what is new and improved, an urgent

need for progress. And, along with that has come a concomitant call for

creativity to meet that need.

Societies around the world are seeking individuals who possess “out of the

box” thinking, who bring a new view, rather than the “tried and true” role of

traditional caretakers. And, no better example serves as proof than hand-held,

hi-tech telecommunications products that are unveiled at monthly consistencies

with additional features in a palm sized device.

Dr. Peter Baofu has an astute capacity for observing and analyzing

situations that can perplex thoughtful persons in the world. And he is not afraid

to criticize what he sees or to share his reactions with his readers. In the present

volume he dissects the construct of creativity as a value that is currently

uncritically held in such high esteem, thereby allowing the reader to get a better

(more insightful) handle on it.

Sylvan Von Burg

School of Business

George Washington University

________________________________________

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Like many other books of mine, this one is written to challenge

conventional wisdom, this time, on creative thinking, and to propose a new

theory to understand it better.

Because of its political incorrectness, this book receives no external funding

nor help from any formal organization or institution.

My only reward is the amazing feeling to discover something new that the

world has not known.

There is one person, however, whom I deeply appreciate for his foreword,

and he is Sylvan von Burg at George Washington University School of

Business,.

In any event, I bear the sole responsibility for the ideas presented in this

book.

________________________________________

ABBREVIATIONS

ALD = Peter Baofu. 2007. The Rise of Authoritarian Liberal Democracy: A

Preface to a New Theory of Comparative Political Systems. Cambridge,

England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Ltd.

BCIV = Peter Baofu. 2006. Beyond Civilization to Post-Civilization:

Conceiving a Better Model of Life Settlement to Supersede Civilization.

NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

BCPC = Peter Baofu. 2005. Beyond Capitalism to Post-Capitalism: Conceiving

a Better Model of Wealth Acquisition to Supersede Capitalism. NY: The

Edwin Mellen Press.

BDPD1 = Peter Baofu. 2004. Volume 1. Beyond Democracy to Post-

Democracy: Conceiving a Better Model of Governance to Supersede

Democracy. NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.

BDPD2 = Peter Baofu. 2004. Volume 2. Beyond Democracy to Post-

Democracy: Conceiving a Better Model of Governance to Supersede

Democracy. NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.

BNN = Peter Baofu. 2006. Beyond Nature and Nurture: Conceivng a Better

Way to Understand Genes and Memes. Cambridge, England: Cambridge

Scholars Publishing, Ltd.

BWT = Peter Baofu. 2007. Beyond the World of Titans, and the Renaking of

World Order: A Preface to a New Logic of Empire-Building. Cambridge,


FAE = Peter Baofu. 2007. The Future of Aesthetic Experience: Conceiving a

Better Way to Understand Beauty, Ugliness and the Rest. Cambridge,


FC = Peter Baofu. 2007. The Future of Complexity: Conceiving a Better Way to

Understand Order and Chaos. London, United Kingdom: World Scientific

Publishing Co.

FCD = Peter Baofu. 2002. The Future of Capitalism and Democracy. MD: The

University Press of America.


xxii

FHC1 = Peter Baofu. 2000. Volume 1. The Future of Human Civilization. NY:

The Edwin Mellen Press.

FHC2 = Peter Baofu. 2000. Volume 2. The Future of Human Civilization. NY:

The Edwin Mellen Press.

FIA = Peter Baofu. 2008. The Future of Information Architecture: Conceiving a

Better Way to Understand Taxonomy, Network, and Intelligence. Oxford,

England: Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Limited.

FPHC = Peter Baofu. 2004. The Future of Post-Human Consciousness. NY: The

Edwin Mellen Press.

FPHCT = Peter Baofu. 2009. The Future of Post-Human Creative Thinking: A

Preface to a New Theory of Invention and Innovation. Cambridge, England:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Ltd.

FPHE = Peter Baofu. 2009. The Future of Post-Human Engineering: A Preface

to a New Theory of Technology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Scholars

Publishing, Ltd.

FPHK = Peter Baofu. 2008. The Future of Post-Human Knowledge: A Preface

to a New Theory of Methodology and Ontology. Oxford, England: Chandos

Publishing (Oxford) Limited.

FPHML = Peter Baofu. 2008. The Future of Post-Human Mathematical Logic:

A Preface to a New Theory of Rationality. Cambridge, England: Cambridge


FPHMM = Peter Baofu. 2009. The Future of Post-Human Mass Media: A

Preface to a New Theory of Technology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge


FPHST = Peter Baofu. 2006. The Future of Post-Human Space-Time:

Conceivng a Better Way to Understand Space and Time. New York: Peter

Lang Publishing, Inc.

FPHU = Peter Baofu. 2008. The Future of Post-Human Unconsciousness: A

Preface to a New Theory of Anomalous Experience. Cambridge, England:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Ltd.

• PART ONE •

________________________________________

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION—THE SEDUCTION

OF CREATIVE THINKING

_____________________________________

Everyone can be creative, even if you don’t

always feel that way. Don’t accept “I’m just

not creative” as an answer. People have to

believe in themselves to think creatively in a

successful way.

—CSUS (2008)

The Fashionable Nonsense on Creative Thinking

What exactly makes creative thinking so magical that, somehow, “everyone

can be creative” and, by implication, creativity is a good thing to have—to the

point that this popular view is fast becoming a fashionable nonsense in this day

and age of ours?

To put things in a historical perspective—this popular view contrasts

sharply with the opposing view in the older days (e.g., during the Enlightenment

and Romantic eras), when people used to think that creativity was primarily for

the selected few with extraordinary abilities. (S. Mizrach 2008; WK 2008o).

Contrary to the respective conventional wisdom in each of the two opposing

eras, neither of the two views is valid. Ours is no more so than theirs.

This is not to imply, of course, that there are only a few instances of

creativity in human history, or, in reverse, that creativity can be equally taught

to everyone—and, for that matter, that there is absolutely nothing good about

creativity. Obviously, extreme views like this are far from the truth.

The point in this book, however, is to show an alternative (better) way to

understand the nature of creative thinking, which goes beyond both convergent

and divergent thinking, while learning from them all.

In the end, there is nothing intrinsically good (or bad) about “creative

thinking”—just as there is nothing essentially good (or evil) about “God,” “the

king,” or the like, by analogy. They have all been used and misused in

accordance to the interests and powers that be over the ages.


4

If true, this seminal view will fundamentally change the way that we think

about the nature of imagination and intuition, with its enormous implications for

the future of invention and innovation, in a small sense, and what I originally

called its “post-human” fate, in a large one.

The Multiple Dimensions of Creativity

At the outset, the word “creativity” has its etymological root in 14th

-century

Latin, from “creatus, past participle of creare,” which means “to grow” or “to

bring into existence.” (MWD 2008)

Over time, the word has evolved into different meanings. In fact, C. W.

Taylor (1998) once went so far as to collect and identify more than 60 different

definitions of creativity. (WK 2008)

To add some more confusion to the literature, creativity can even be known

by different names (e.g., “lateral thinking,” “divergent thinking,” “flexible

thinking,” “thinking outside the box,” “fluid intelligence,” or even “TRIZ”).

(WK 2008, 2008a, & 2008b; TRIZ 2004)

With this caveat in mind—creativity, not surprisingly, is not monolithic,

since it has appeared in all shapes and sizes.

For instance, creativity can be about a “trait” (e.g., “that some people have

and others do not”), a person (e.g., who engages in creative work), a “state”

(e.g., “that people sometimes enter into”), a “product” (e.g., that “creativity”

produces), a “process” (e.g., where creativity can occur in stages like what

Graham Wallas and Richard Smith once called “preparation,” “incubation,”

“intimation,” “illumination,” and “verification”), a “creative technique” (e.g.,

Alex Osborn's “brainstorming,” Genrikh Altshuller's “TRIZ,” and Edward de

Bono's “lateral thinking”), or an environment (e.g., an “inventive organization”).

(S. Harnad 2008; WK 2008; G. Wallas 1926; A. Osborn 1948; E de Bono 1992;

D. Hughes 1998; J. Mauzy 2003)

Creativity can also be “eminent” (viz., “'recognized' or 'ingenious,' e.g.,

Einstein's creativity; sometimes referred to as 'Creativity' with a capital C)” or,

conversely, “mundane” (or less important, that is, creativity with a small c).

(WK 2008c) In fact, creativity with the capital C can also be called “radical,” or

even, “revolutionary” creativity—while creativity with a small c can likewise be

known as “incremental,” or “small” creativity.

These multiple dimensions of creativity are summarized in Table 1.1.

Chapter 1: Introduction—The Seduction of Creative Thinking

5

Creativity, Invention, and Innovation

Creativity, in addition, can also be understood in relation to the faculties of

imagination and intuition, which make creative thinking possible in the first

place.

After all, what is creative has much to do with the ability to think

“analogously” (as in imagination) or “intuitively” (as in intuition), just to cite

two instances (as there are others too, of course). (S. Harnad 2008)

In this sense, what is creative is not about the ability to think logically (as in

deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning), or, for that matter, to learn by rote

memory or to imitate blindly, for instance. (S. Harnad 2008)

Imagination and intuition can be more deeply analyzed, when put in the

context of invention and innovation, in relation to creativity.

Yet, one should not confuse the three terms (viz., creativity, invention, and

innovation), although they are closely related.

Firstly, creativity, in one definition, refers to “the act of producing new

ideas,” or, in another one, “a mental process involving the generation of new

ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing

ideas or concepts.” (WK 2008)

Secondly, innovation, on the other hand, is “the process of both generating

and applying such creative ideas in some specific context.” (WK 2008) For

instance, “[i]n economics the change must increase value, customer value, or

producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or

something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the

fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.” (WK 2008d)

And thirdly, invention, however, is often contrasted with “innovation,”

since the former refers to “an idea made manifest” (especially, though not

exclusively, in the arts), whereas the latter means “ideas applied successfully”

(especially, though not exclusively, in “economics, business, technology,

sociology, and engineering,” for instance). (WK 2008d; M. Mckeown 2008;

WK 2008e).

Thus, invention is “a highly creative process” and when it “gets out into the

world,” it becomes “innovation.” (WK 2008e)

In other words, both invention and innovation involve creativitiy. Yet, what

is inventive, for instance, is creative, but what is creative may not be inventive

(as it may be innovative instead). The same is true for the relationship between

creativity and innovation.

Or to put it yet in another different way, when creativity is ideational and

original, it becomes inventive, but when creativity is applied and useful, it

becomes innovative.


6

The Theoretical Debate

With this distinction among creativity, invention, and innovation (as

summarized in Table 1.2) in mind—the next business to do is to introduce

different theoretical approaches in the literature on creativity.

Four main theoretical approaches can be summarized hereafter (and in

Table 1.3), as a way to introduce the complicated theoretical debate on creativty,

with the fourth to be my original contribution to the literature).

In the absence of better words, these four theoretical approaches can be

called, namely, (a) the bio-psychological argument, (b) the socio-cultural

argument, (c) the serendipitous argument, and (d) the comprehesnive

argument—to be addressed hereafter, respectively (and summarized in Table

1.3).

The Bio-Psychological Argument

Firstly, a main theoretical approach focuses more on both biological and

psychological factors and can be called, in the absence of better words, the bio-

psychological argument.

This bio-pschological argument can be divided into two major camps,

which can be labeled, in the absence of better words, namely, (a) the view on

innateness and (b) the view on the unconscious mind.

The View on Innateness

The view on innateness consider creativity as biological in origin, in that it

is hard-wired in the brain and is unevenly distributed by way of a genetic

lottery, to the extent that those who are creative are biologically more endowed

with creative abilities than those who are not so creative (or even not at all in

other cases).

For instance, in one version of this view, Charles Peirce proposed the

existence of “abduction,” which is a third thinking process besides “induction”

and “deduction,” whereby “people find the right generalization from

considering sample cases even though the probability of finding it is much too

low.” (S. Harnad 2008)

For Peirce, “the reason we succeed so often in finding improbable

generalizations is that the solutions are somehow already built into our brains.

Hence, according to this view, creativity is a kind of 'remembering,' much the

way Plato thought learning was remembering [anamnesis] (not conscious

remembering in either case, of course). If it is true that the innate patterns of our

brain activity play such a crucial role in creativity, then of course no 'preparation

Chapter 1: Introduction—The Seduction of Creative Thinking

7

is more important than this (evolutionary?) one, and creativity turns out to be in

part an instinctive skill.” (S. Harnad 2008)

This biological instinctive skill allows the creative mind to work creatively

in two major ways, namely, either (a) by “eliminating many of the possible false

starts we could take by rendering them (literally) unthinkable in the first place,”

or (b) by guiding it “in how…[to] select and evaluate the possibilities.” (S.

Harnad 2008)

This is not necessarily to assume, however, that the evolutionary process for

creative thought must be Darwinian for nautral selection. As Liane Gabora

(2005) critically pointed out, “[s]election theory does not provide us with a

formal description of how creative thought evolves, not only because of the oft-

cited assumption of randomness, but because of the requirement that we

enumerate up front all possible alternatives, and the impossibility of describing

situations wherein the outcome emerges spontaneously through interaction

between problem constraints and context. But this does not necessarily mean

that creative thought is not an evolutionary process,” but that “creative thought

could evolve without natural selection. First…evolution need not be Darwinian.

Then…creative thought may fit into a more general, encompassing description

of evolution as context-driven actualization of potential.”

Even with this qualification—the problem in relation to (a) is that “it seems

to attribute too much specific innate structure to the mind (and in this respect it

has an element of the magical view). Since language, logic and the mechanical

sampling of possible variations by trial and error seem to allow us to conceive

of so much, it is hard to see how the first form of abduction—limits on what is

conceivable—could have much of a role. The problem of creativity seems to

begin once we take the vast array of conceivable alternatives as given: How do

we then find the 'right' ones?” (S. Harnad 2008)

And the problem in relation to (b) is that “it is unclear to what extent this

'guidance' function, the one involved in hunches, conjectures, intuition, etc.

(whatever they are), is an innate, evolutionary one, arising from the structure of

our minds, rather than an effect of experience, preparation, analogy and even

chance.” (S. Harnad 2008)

In the end, this “abduction view seems to attribute too much to innate

structure without giving any explanation of its nature and origins.” (S. Harnad

2008)

The View on the Unconscious Mind

There is another version of the bio-psychological argument, in that

creativity is “the working of the 'unconscious mind'”—which is something that

Jacques Hadamard (1954) on mathematical invention and Sigmund Freud on the

psychoanalysis of creativity had propounded.


8

This “magical” version of the bio-psychological argument “offers no real

explanation of the creative process, merely attributing it to a mysterious (and

very creative) unconscious mind.” (S. Harnad 2008)

Their concern here is that “for a time one works consciously on a problem,

and when one fails, one's unconscious mind somehow continues and

mysteriously accomplishes what the conscious one could not.” (S. Harnard

2008)

But the problem here, then, is that “[f]rom the perspective of modern

cognitive science this is not very helpful, because all cognitive processes are

unconscious, and as such, require an explanation, not merely an

anthropomorphic attribution to another, wiser (or more primitive) mind

analogous to the conscious one.” (S. Harnard 2008)

Yet, the good part of this “magical” view is that it points us “to the

incompleteness of the role of conscious, deliberate efforts in the creative

process. Note, however, that Pasteur's dictum had already indicated that

preparation was necessary but not sufficient….Moreover, 'conscious, deliberate

effort' is not even sufficient to explain such altogether uncreative cognitive

activities as remembering a name, recognizing a face or adding two and two.”

(S. Harnad 2008)

So, if the bio-psychological argument is problematic, then what alternative

one is available?

The Socio-Cultural Argument

An alternative argument, then, opposes the first and can be called, in the

absence of better words, the socio-cultural argument.

The socio-cultural argment can be summarized below by way of two good

examples, namely, (a) the view on preparation and (b) the view on creative

principles, to be addressed hereafter.

The View on Preparation

This version of the socio-cultural argument focuses more on the process of

“preparation” to learn what has been handed down to culture and society as

“conventions,” wherefrom the creative leap can take off. (S. Harnad 2008)

Louis Pasteur put it well, when he said that “le hasard favorise l'esprit

prepare” (that is, in English, “chance favors the prepared mind”). (S. Harnad

2008)

For Pasteur, although “[there is a (perhaps very large) element of chance in

creativity,…it is most likely to occur if the mind is somehow prepared for it.

Context shows that by 'preparation' Pasteur did not mean being born with the

'creative' trait. He meant that existing knowledge and skills relevant to the

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