A Cognitive-Historical Approach to Creativity

Subrata Dasgupta

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429628009
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

At the heart of creativity is the practice of bringing something new into existence, whether it be a material object or abstract idea, thereby making history and enriching the creative tradition. A Cognitive Historical Approach to Creativity explores the idea that creativity is both a cognitive phenomenon and a historical process. Blending insights and theories of cognitive science with the skills, mentality and investigative tools of the historian, this book considers diverse issues including: the role of the unconscious in creativity, the creative process, creating history with a new object or idea, and the relationship between creators and consumers. Drawing on a plethora of real-life examples from the eighteenth century through to the present day, and from distinct fields including the arts, literature, science and engineering, Subrata Dasgupta emphasizes historicity as a fundamental feature of creativity.

Providing a unified, integrative, interdisciplinary treatment of cognitive history and its application to understanding and explaining creativity in its multiple domains, A Cognitive Historical Approach to Creativity is essential reading for all researchers of creativity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Prologue
• Acknowledgments
• Dramatis personae
• 1 The cognitive–historical space
• 2 Artifacts: the very “stuff ” of creativity
• 3 Artificers and consumers
• 4 A cognitive pas de deux
• 5 Knowledge schemas in creative thought
• 6 The prepared mind
• 7 “The unconscious machine”
• 8 Preparing for illumination
• 9 The actual act of production
• 10 Inventing cognitive style
• 11 The psychohistorian’s contribution
• 12 Of creative movements
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index