Patrik Engisch: Towards a pluralist account of creativity

Tuesday November 26 2024 @11:30 (CEST)
Sala B, Edificio de Humanidades, UNED & online

Abstract
The philosophy of creativity should take as its starting point what I call the Diversity Fact, i.e., the fact that there is a remarkable diversity, both descriptive and normative, in the use of the concepts creativity and creative. To deal with this fact, we need to ask the methodological question of how to approach it. I will argue that a distinct feature of a philosophical, rather than psychological, account of creativity is that it must confront this diversity head-on rather than piece-meal. This amounts, in part, to distinguishing three different aspects or characteristics of creativity: novelty, normativity and eudemonia. Having identified these three aspects, we can then distinguish two types of philosophical accounts of creativity. Conservative accounts attempt to support all three aspects, while revisionist accounts renounce at least one of them. I will then argue that a philosophical account of creativity must be conservative, but that this comes at a price: a philosophical account of creativity cannot be both conservative and monistic. In other words, a conservative account of creativity cannot be an account with a single fundamental concept of creativity that accounts for all the correct applications of the concepts of creativity and creative. In the realm of creativity, to be a conservative means to be a pluralist. I will conclude by gesturing at what such an account could look like.

Bio
Patrik Engisch works at the crossroads of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and aesthetics. His research interests include creativity, imagination, fiction, olfaction, value theory, and the experience of and various relations to food and drink. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva, part of the SNF Prima project “Creativity, Imagination, and Tradition,” led by Julia Langkau. Previous positions include adjunct lecturer at the University of Fribourg, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luzern, FNS postdoctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg, and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.