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Although there is a belief that creativity is something we are born with, I believe that it can be learned.
Then again, people working together can also be creative. Think about improvised music played by some music groups. I don't think creating something new in a "learned way" is a creative task--in fact, isn't that the very opposite of creativity? To me, being creative isn't about creating new things, nor is it about the way you create them - it's about doing so by yourself. I'm interested in that last paragraph. Could the author expand on the idea a bit more?I'm curious about your 'intuitive definition of creativity'.
This is why Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is one of the faculties of our mind that allow us to be trained in how to be more creative. This is the right brain hemisphere. I like your answer. We are all well trained in the left brain hemisphere which results in a big cross-referenced database of the way everything has already been done. Imagination brings new things to the planet. This is a case where society takes, what? 20 years or more, to incorporate new paradigms. There is ample evidence that anyone can be taught to enhance their creativity. It's just that the typical educational system only focuses on training the logical, left hemisphere unless you're 'born with' some style of being an artist. Then they are trained to use their instrument with great perfection not trained in how to be more creative.[1][2] There at least two perspectives, which coincide with the two types of genius: in one form we use tools to "build" a new idea, in the other form the idea is a classification of a non-pre-existing category. While in the first form, innovation is like carpentry, in the second form genius is radically humble, and determines itself from nihilism
Maybe my intuitive understanding of creativity is wrong. Maybe it has nothing to do with solving problems, but with creation of new things and ideas. If this is correct, than one can be taught come to come to new ideas. If I come to new ideas in a learned way, I am creative. If I come to same learned ideas in a new way, I am also creative.[3] That's funny. I just asked myself a question:
What is creativity?
Immediately an answer came:
Ability to solve problem in a way that I had not been taught!
Which brings me back to the claim above that creativity can be learned. That is in contradiction to the intuitive definition of creativity as I understand it! Although there is a belief that creativity is something we are born with, I believe that it can be learned. Another point on education and creativity. Let's take math for example. Instead of asking the students to come up with the formula for a triangle, they just give them the formula. They also seem to try and make you memorize a*b/2 instead of "a triangle has half the area of a square". This is the same way a programmer would program a program, it's only set to know how to do 1 task, and not know why it works. So how did you learn it? Or maybe I should ask, why didn't you learn it?creativity can only be trained by allowing students to make mistakes. current educational system does not encourage sudents to try regardless of outcome. instead, students are punished with bad marks in case they make an error. this kills creativity and forces students to always choose the "safe way", and that leads to stagnation. I am not interested in either belief. I want to see the facts!
