Patrick Engisch: "Towards a Pluralist Account of Creativity"

Patrick Engisch, University of Geneva: "Towards a Pluralist Account of Creativity"

Abstract
Standard theories of creativity in philosophy and psychology are monistic in spirit. For them, questions of the form: “Is x creative?” or “Does creativity matter?” are concerned with a unique, fundamental conception of creativity. In this talk, I argue that we have conceptual and empirical reasons to believe that such an approach is wanting. A better theory of creativity should be a pluralistic one, where different notions of creativity collaborate with each other. In particular, I will distinguish between kainotic (from kainos, innovation) conceptions of creativity, and non-kainotic ones, and will sketch the contours of pluralistic theory of creativity that cover these two conceptions, hopefully starting to paint a more detailed picture of creativity and the role it plays in our lives.