Creativity in Perspective: A Sociocultural and Critical Account

Abstract

This article starts from the premise that creativity is a social construction and focuses on historical and scientific accounts of this phenomenon. Using a perspectival model in a pragmatist key, it outlines three historical perspectives on creativity—the He-, I-, and We-paradigms—differentiated internally by two positions—artist and engineer. It then argues that, instead of dialogues between perspectives, fruitful for creativity research, we are often facing monological relations. In the end, possibilities for “thirdness” are explored, including the position of the craftsman, in developing a sociocultural as well as critical account of what it means to create.

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Erratum

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Vlad Petre Glăveanu is now Associate Professor and Head of Psychology and Professional Counseling at Webster University, Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail for correspondence: [email protected]