Origins of genius : Darwinian perspectives on creativity

著者

• Simonton, Dean Keith

書誌事項

Origins of genius : Darwinian perspectives on creativity

Dean Keith Simonton

Oxford University Press, 1999

注記

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-296) and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

How can we account for the sudden appearance of such dazzling artists and scientists as Mozart, Shakespeare, Darwin, or Einstein? How can we define such genius? What conditions or personality traits seem to produce exceptionally creative people? Is the association between genius and madness really just a myth? These and many other questions are brilliantly illuminated in The Origins of Genius. Dean Simonton convincingly argues that creativity can best be understood as a Darwinian process of variation and selection. The artist or scientist generates a wealth of ideas, and then subjects these ideas to aesthetic or scientific judgment, selecting only those that have the best chance to survive and reproduce. Indeed, the true test of genius is the ability to bequeath an impressive and influential body of work to future generations. Simonton draws on the latest research into creativity and explores such topics as the personality type of the genius, whether genius is genetic or produced by environment and education, the links between genius and mental illness (Darwin himself was emotionally and mentally unwell), the high incidence of childhood trauma, especially loss of a parent, amongst Nobel Prize winners, the importance of unconscious incubation in creative problem-solving, and much more. Simonton substantiates his theory by examining and quoting from the work of such eminent figures as Henri Poincare, W. H. Auden, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Niels Bohr, and many others. For anyone intrigued by the spectacular feats of the human mind, The Origins of Genius offers a revolutionary new way of understanding the very nature of creativity.

目次

• Preface
• 1. Genius and Darwin
• 2. Cognition: What is the Creative Process?
• 3. Variation: How do Creators Differ from the Rest of Us?
• 4. Development: Is the Genius Born or Made?
• 5. Products: By What Works Shall We Know Them?
• 6. Groups: Creative Times, Places and Peoples?
• 7. Darwinian Genius
• Notes
• References
• Index

「Nielsen BookData」 より

• NII書誌ID(NCID): BA45469147
• ISBN:
  • 0195128796
• LCCN: 98045044
• 出版国コード: us
• タイトル言語コード: eng
• 本文言語コード: eng
• 出版地: New York ; Oxford
• ページ数/冊数: x, 308 p.
• 大きさ: 24 cm
• 分類:
  • LCC : BF412
  • DC21 : 153.9/8
• 件名:
  • LCSH : Genius
  • LCSH : Creative ability
  • LCSH : Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882