How about creativity is problem solving. Think it over. It is just is a
question of problem definition. If you look at a solution, anything that is the
result of applied creativity and ask yourself, "What was the problem to which
it is a solution?" you can always get an answer. So, I throw out a challenge.
Identify a specific piece of creativity which doesn't solve a problem.

My computer seems to think quotation marks are actually dashes of various
kinds, my apologies.
Jan

Jan Coker
C3-10 Underdale Campus
University of South Australia
+61 8 8302 6919
"There is no way to peace, peace is the way"
Gandhi


-----Original Message-----
From: Lubomir S. Popov [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, 27 February 2003 1:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: PHD-DESIGN Digest - 24 Feb 2003 to 25 Feb 2003 (#2003-43)

We better talk not about problem-solving creativity and artistic
creativity, but about creativity in problem solving in different areas:
mechanical engineering, art, etc. Art is about problem solving even when we
don't realize it. We get confused because the problem formulation and
problem solving in art has a nature that is completely different from that
in science and technology activities.

By the way, the field of creativity is so confused that it practically has
no impact on human problem solving. The problems stem from inadequaste and
often immature conceptualizations of  creativity. On the other hand I have
nothing against practical tips for increasing creative potential. As usual,
rules of thumb are more efficient than scholarly developed recommendation.
In this realm, we are still in the age of craftsmen.

Best,

Lubomir

At 07:42 AM 2/26/2003 +0000, Chris RUST(SCS) wrote:
>Chris Heape said:
> >The two I have identified - to keep it simple - (Sternberg 1988) are
>
> >the differences between problem solving creativity and artistic
>
> >creativity. I find that the students can basically come to a grinding
>
> >halt when developing their projects, because they are not aware of the
>
> >difference between the two.
>...........
>........
> >I encourage the students to keep these two main areas of their project
>
> >or task apart, for a while, until they become clearer in their minds
>
>I'm not very happy with this. It seems to reinforce atomistic thinking and I
>suggest that design only works well as a holistic activity. I recognise the
>problem that Chris describes but I prefer to start the learning process of
>designers by giving students experience of dealing with explicitly discrete
>problems (eg mechanism, form handling, interaction) to build up their ability
>to recognise and work with each kind of problem and expect them to integrate
>those abilities and handle progressively more complex questions as their
>education progresses.  Learners need a chance to "dwell in" the different
>kinds
>of problems they are likely to encounter to build up a tacit understanding
>which can be integrated into their approach to complex problems.  This is
>important as "illumination" requires well-developed tacit knowledge (Polanyi
>1958 p123). I wonder if Polanyi's idea of illumination, the "imaginative
>leap",
>is a better way of thinking about the central problem of being a designer than
>the more passive concept of "creativity".
>
>Of course there is a role for deconstructing your ideas and carrying out
>discrete experiments to work out specific problems within the design, but that
>has to take place against the background of a holistic understanding of the
>whole problem.
>
>And the ideas of "problem solving" and "artistic" (or "aesthetic") creativity
>seem to provide no space for the kind of synthesis that designers increasingly
>are expected to engage in, which sometimes feels more like social invention
>than anything else.
>
>best wishes from Sheffield
>Chris Rust
>
>Polanyi, M (1958) Personal Knowledge, Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy,
>Routledge, London (1962 corrected edition)
>
>*******************************************
>Professor Chris Rust
>Art and Design Research Centre
>Sheffield Hallam University UK
>www.shu.ac.uk/design
>
>[log in to unmask]
>tel +44 114 225 2706
>fax +44 114 225 2603
>Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UZ, UK