Unleashing the Creative Imagination

Unleashing the creative imagination in the domains of the humanities, science and art

How can we, as researchers, scientists or artists, create? How can we create new forms, new forms of being and new ways of thinking about something in the domains of the humanities, science and art?

By focusing on these questions, this seminar will explore the notion of creativity through a return to three significant moments in Western philosophy - specifically to the philosophical reflections of the eighteenth-century philosophers Immanuel Kant and his contemporary Johann Fichte, and to the reflections of the twentieth century philosopher, Cornelius Castoriadis. The significance of these three moments in history can be attributed to an emergent theme that clearly associates human creation with the power of the creative imagination. Beginning with Kant’s revolutionary description of the power of imagination as an 'indispensable function of the soul' and as a creative power of the genius, this remarkable theme comes to fruition in the reflections of Fichte and Castoriadis who both, albeit in varying forms, define the creative imagination as fundamental to the ontology of being.

Contextualised within the domains of the humanities, science and art, the concept of the creative imagination is critical for not only do Kant, Fichte and Castoriadis offer an entirely new way of thinking about the creative power of imagination but each provide remarkable insights into how this power can be unleashed and purposively used to create ontologically new forms, new forms of being and new ways of thinking about something. In this respect, the concept of the creative imagination is indissociable from, what has been described as, an ontological turn to creativity - a turn that moves creativity from being considered as an aesthetic or cognitive capacity to creativity being considered as an ontological capacity. By making a turn towards the idea of ontological creation, a move can be made from the notion of ‘being creative’ to the notion of ‘creative Being,’ or more specifically, to 'creative Being/being'.

Presenter

Dr Jodie Heap

Jodie Heap is an Associate of the School of Culture and Communication in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. Following the recent completion of her PhD, Jodie continues to develop her research into conceptions of the imagination and the imaginary within Western philosophical thought. Her PhD dissertation was titled The Imagination. The Seed of Indeterminacy in the Writings of Kant, Fichte and Castoriadis.