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CREATIVITY IN SCIENCE, ART AND PHILOSOPHY: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION

The phenomenon of creative expression is investigated for the purpose of uncovering the origin of those contexts of significance which, as horizon for all concepts, are implicitly understood in any act of communication. This origin is found in the distinctively human activity of publicly expressing the "ontological understanding" essential to having a "world." / Heidegger's analysis of the structure of human existence, as at once ontic and ontological, enables acts of creative expression, whether occurring in science, art, or philosophy, to be interpreted as aspects of a single phenomenon: the transfer of a significance from where it is felt to another context where it is understood. This phenomenon itself is understood when projected onto the existential we call "creativity." / Theme A: Galileo's conception of a "mathematized" Nature is revealed by Husserl's critique to have its ground in a prior understanding of the "life-world." But to account for this understanding we must forego Husserl's ontic description of a synthetic constitution. Heidegger's ontological turn allows Galileo's epochal achievement to be seen as the working out of a mathematically determined "fore-structure" of understanding based on the pre-given "worldhood" of his own world. / Theme B: Cezanne's act of spatializing the perceptual world, illustrated in his "Mont Saint-Victoire," demonstrates an originary expression of the primary significance underlying the scientific concept of space. While Merleau-Ponty's ontic analysis of perceptual consciousness reveals the role of the living body in creative expression, his inability to resolve the dilemma of Cezanne's doubt once more motivates the ontological turn, this time to elucidate the painter's experience of a conflict between the perceptual values of his canvases and the conceptual values of Galilean Nature. / Theme C: Tracing the concept of "space" back to its origin in the primary expression of "spatiality" illustrates the priority of artistic expression over scientific conception, and demonstrates by example the creativity--in philosophy--of Heidegger's ontic-ontological reversal. / The achievement of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Heidegger may then be comprehended as a viable moment in the history of philosophy having as its significance the import of Nietzsche's dictum: Bevor "gedacht" wird, muss schon "gedichtet" worden sein. That is, in matters of creative fact, metaphor always precedes concept. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, Section: A, page: 1786. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75339
ContributorsJONES, EDWIN W., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format213 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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