Creativity naturalized

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

I argue that creativity is compatible with determinism and therefore with naturalistic explanation. I explore different kinds of novelty, corresponding with four distinct concepts of creativity - anthropological, historical, psychological and metaphysical. Psychological creativity incorporates originality and spontaneity. Taken together, these point to the independence of the creative mind from social learning, experience and previously acquired knowledge. This independence is nevertheless compatible with determinism. Creativity is opposed to specific causal factors, but it does not exclude causal determination as such. So creativity can be naturalized.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)577-592
Number of pages16
JournalPhilosophical Quarterly
Volume59
Issue number237
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2009
Externally publishedYes

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