Possibility, Novelty, and Creativity

[From the introduction]Genuine novelty is the introduction and creation of new things, relations, and affections in the world. Human experience constantly confronts us with novelty, in surprising, intimate ways (spotting new freckles, a great cup of hot chocolate, budding flowers), and in more time-extended, sweeping ways (invention of the automobile, the Little Ice Age, the development of homo sapiens). And yet things are the same. The novel always contains what has already been as a component, but with some modification.Generically, all novelty is the outcome of some creative act, and all creative acts beget some novelty. Apart from this, the concept of novelty is not homogenous. There can be novel items – individual and unique things. There can be novel kinds: new sorts of things or states of affairs, new types of events. There can be novel problems and questions and concepts. All novelty involves a measure of unpredictability and a measure of breaking from the status quo. And novelty is a pervasive element of human experience.I want to take this aspect of human experience seriously when doing metaphysics; I do not want to make the world of human experience secondary to some ineffable realm. Because our experience is an aspect of the real world, an account of novelty must acknowledge that the novel things that emerge in the course of events are “genuine.” That is, they are metaphysically significant and ontologically real. I want to construct a metaphysic that accommodates pervasive change and novelty, one that accommodates radical novelty.This is, however, a drastic change from much contemporary metaphysical work. Often, the way change is dealt with metaphysically renders our most intimate interactions and feelings an unimportant component of reality (if it is a component at all). Thus the reworking of many fundamental notions is required in order to make sense of the ideas of ‘change’ and ‘novelty.’ One of these notions is ‘possibility.’ Commonly held notions of possibility, such as an existence-less form (a “possible object” – a plaid apple, for example), or possibility as a rearrangement of the elements of actuality (taking what actually exists and putting it in new combinations – horse + horn = unicorn), drain all significance from the notion of novelty. In this paper, I attempt to revise our notion of possibility using Bergson and Whitehead by creating a picture that does not entail “possible objects,” but allows for a creative actuality and radical novelty. This modified view of possibility will provide a basis for understanding higher and more complex and coordinated forms of novelty. [...

Critique of Creativity: Precarity, Subjectivity and Resistance in the ‘Creative Industries’

234 p. : il., Tablas.Libro ElectrónicoLa creatividad siempre está en movimiento: surge, se establece en el ente colectivo, palidece y desaparece a veces en el olvido; renace, vuelve con innovaciones, se reformula y resurge iniciando de nuevo el ciclo. Los viejos mitos de la creación y los creadores, los trabajos consagrados y los organismos privilegiados de los demiurgos están de nuevo en marcha, produciendo nuevos cambios. Los ensayos recogidos en este libro analizan ese resurgimiento complejo del mito de la creación y proponen una crítica contemporánea de la creatividad.Creativity is astir: reborn, re-conjured, re-branded, resurgent. The old myths of creation and creators – the hallowed labors and privileged agencies of demiurges and prime movers, of Biblical world-makers and self-fashioning artist-geniuses – are back underway, producing effects, circulating appeals. Much as the Catholic Church dresses the old creationism in the new gowns of ‘intelligent design’, the Creative Industries sound the clarion call to the Cultural Entrepreneurs. In the hype of the ‘creative class’ and the high flights of the digital bohemians, the renaissance of ‘the creatives’ is visibly enacted. The essays collected in this book analyze this complex resurgence of creation myths and formulate a contemporary critique of creativity.Contents vii Contributors ix Acknowledgements xv Introduction: On the Strange Case of ‘Creativity’ and its Troubled Resurrection 1 PART ONE: CREATIVITY 7 1 Immanent Effects: Notes on Cre-activity 9 2 The Geopolitics of Pimping 23 3 The Misfortunes of the ‘Artistic Critique’ and of Cultural Employment 41 4 ‘Creativity and Innovation’ in the Nineteenth Century: Harrison C. White and the Impressionist Revolution Reconsidered 57 PART TWO: PRECARIZATION 77 5 Virtuosos of Freedom: On the Implosion of Political Virtuosity and Productive Labour 79 6 Experiences Without Me, or, the Uncanny Grin of Precarity 91 7 Wit and Innovation 101 PART THREE: CREATIVITY INDUSTRIES 107 8 GovernCreativity, or, Creative Industries Austrian Style 109 9 The Los Angelesation of London: Three Short Waves of Young People’s Micro-Economies of Culture and Creativity in the UK 119 10 Unpredictable Outcomes / Unpredictable Outcasts: On Recent Debates over Creativity and the Creative Industries 133 11 Chanting the Creative Mantra: The Accelerating Economization of EU Cultural Policy 147 PART FOUR: CULTURE INDUSTRY 165 12 Culture Industry and the Administration of Terror 167 13 Add Value to Contents: The Valorization of Culture Today 183 14 Creative Industries as Mass Deception 191 Bibliography 20

X-phemism and creativity

X-phemism motivates language change by promoting new expressions, or new meanings for old expressions, and causing some existing vocabulary to be abandoned. There are basically two ways in which X-phemisms are created: by a changed form for the word or expression and by figurative language that results from the perceived characteristics of the denotatum. Change can be achieved by hyperbole or understatement, by the use of learned or technical jargon instead of common terms, and conversely by the use of colloquial instead of formal terms, by both general-for-specific substitution and part-for-whole substitution, by both circumlocution and abbreviation, acronym, alphabetism or even complete omission, as well as by one-for-one substitution from the existing resources of the language or by borrowing from another language. X-phemisms are motivated by a speaker’s want to be seen to take a certain stance and by playfulness. An interesting perspective on the human psyche is to be gained from the study of X‑phemisms used as a shield against the disapprobation of our fellows or malign fate, and others used as a weapon against those we dislike or as a release valve against the vicissitudes of life. Many euphemisms and dysphemisms demonstrate the poetic inventiveness of ordinary people: they reveal a folk culture that has been paid too little attention by lexicographers, linguists, and literaticians – and, indeed, by the very people who use them: people like us

Jewish education at the Cape, 1841 to the present day : a survey and appraisal in the light of historical and philosophical perspectives

Bibliography: p. [A41-A42].Essentially, this history recounts the endeavours of a comparatively small Jewish Community, distant from the main centres of culture and population, in its search for assurance of continuity expressed in terms of an educational response to positive as well as negative forces acting on its group-existence. Interestingly enough, it is epitomised in the story of one or two Jewish schools: generally, one main school holds the stage. It is a story, however, which cannot be adequately understood without an examination of its long historical roots

A personal inquiry, through Currere, into the person/earth relationship, using the hermeneutic spiral as model

This dissertation is an inquiry focused on the development of a curriculum framework, for Outdoor/Environmental Education. The method of inquiry is derived from a phenomenological and hermeneutic orientation with a particular emphasis on the concept of currere as a process of self-reflection and free-associative writing. In Part I the differing concepts of the person/earth relationship which influenced the development of Outdoor/ Environmental Education are explored through a review of the works of various nature writers who influenced the movement toward the outdoor experience as a part of the school curriculum. A model for examining the nature of the person/ earth relationship through the concepts of currere and the hermeneutic spiral are introduced as a prelude to the experiential model which is presented in Part II

The end of politics: democracy, bureaucracy, and utopia after lenin

The thesis is an attempt to offer a reconsideration of Lenin’s book The State and Revolution. The argument is that commentators have failed to appreciate the centrality of its concepts to Lenin’s mature theory of politics„ and to the body of ideas that subsequently became Leninisms. It further argues that an understanding of the present Soviet regime, and others of a similar nature, is aided by a realisation that the themes of The State and Revolution are present in the institutional arrangements of those societies. The Introduction takes as starting point recent events in Poland, and suggests that an understanding of those events may be gained by an investigation of the discourse on political forms that Marxism offers. Chapter one presents the origins of the text, its theses in summary form, and the reception given to the text by subsequent commentators. These are divided into those taking a "historical” and those taking a ‘political’ approach. Suggestions are made of the inadequacy of both approaches, reasons for such inadequacies are proposed, and an attempt is made to offer an alternative approach based upon hermeneutics, in particular Gadamer’s concept of ‘effective-history’. Chapter two examines the way Lenin conceptualised the problems of state and politics in post-revolutionary society, and the measures he proposed for the solution of these problems. It is argued that the libertarian arrangements suggested in the text in fact provide a cultural and institutional foundation for an authoritarian state. Chapter three attempts to investigate further the assumptions on the phenomena of bureaucracy and democracy that underlie the text. Its debilitating effect on subsequent theorists of the contemporary state is suggested, and an interpretation of Weber’s thoughts on the issues is provided as a means of discovering the weakness of such theories. Chapter four attempts to examine more closely the elements of Lenin s thought and culture that made the concepts of The State and Revolution both possible and necessary. This leads to an attempt elaborate the theory of political motivation that is an unspoken assumption in Lenin’s writings, and criticises that theory as reducing politics to an ontological impossibility. It is suggested that this is a necessary assumption for Lenin"s commune-state to function. Chapter Five offers an interpretation of Sartre’s ‘Critique of Dialectical Reason’ in order to establish the paradoxical absurdity and inevitability of Lenin"s thesis. Sartre’s sociology of revolution is emphasised for its understanding of the relationship between politics and time, and Lenin"s text is then finally assessed as an attempt to provide the constitutional arrangements for a society outside of time

Reforming Copyright Law to Encourage Creativity in Kenya: A Comparative Study of Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States

This thesis proposes reform to Kenyan copyright law for the encouragement of creativity. It is argued that the encouragement of creativity is the key objective of copyright law. Creativity is a highly derivative process drawing on existing ideas and concepts. Kenyan creativity draws heavily on its culture, particularly its traditional cultural expressions. Kenya’s traditional cultural expressions are currently protected under a sui generis regime that restricts the creative re-use of ideas. It is therefore urged that the tried and true edifice of copyright law is a more appropriate regime for the regulation of traditional cultural expressions, in order to encourage creativity. However, as will emerge, copyright law is not free from its own inadequacies. As its methodology this thesis employs legal and theoretical perspectives. Regarding legal perspectives, an examination, review and comparison of the copyright laws of Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrates that the structure of copyright law has led to a failure in it adequately encouraging creativity. Instead of understanding and providing for the true nature of creativity, as a derivative process, copyright law valorises the Romantic “author-genius”. Theoretical perspectives reveal that this position has arisen due to copyright law being dominated by economic concerns. The domination of law as well as culture by economic concerns is cautioned in the theory of social three-folding put forward by the economist Rudolf Steiner. Social three-folding calls for a freeing of law and culture from economic dictates. This research draws on Steiner’s theory of social three-folding as a framework through which Kenyan copyright law can be reformed and conceptualises creativity, primarily, with regard to John Locke’s “theory of knowledge”. On this backdrop an online database for traditional cultural expressions in Kenya is proposed. The unique aspect of this database would be that it would contain a guiding statement on what may be deemed as ideas, the building blocks of creativity, in a particular traditional cultural expression

Identity and Cultures of Peace(s): a critical assessment of the mainstream discourse on French identity

Treball final de Màster Universitari en Estudis internacionals de Pau, Conflictes i Desenvolupament (Pla de 2013). Codi: SBG120. Curs acadèmic 2019/2020This study aims to analyse the nexus between identity, France and peace. It examines the relationship between the construction of French identity and the emergence of cultures of peace(s). This thesis states that the recognition of French alternative identities dismantles the mainstream discourses on French identity, based on essentialist and colonialist ideologies, and contributes to cultures of peace(s) in France. This study uses theoretical content analysis, qualitative literature-based research and discourse analysis from secondary data in order to thoroughly review the concepts of identity and alternative identities, as well as to critically assess French identity, peace theories and practices. The findings of the research indicate that the current French republican system stems from a culture of war and violence, and that peace and alternative identities are intrinsically linked together. This thesis lays the theoretical basis for the transformation of inner and societal conflicts on French identity and the building of cultures of peace(s) in France.Cette étude vise à analyser le lien entre l'identité, la France et la paix. Elle examine la relation entre la construction de l'identité française et l'émergence de cultures de paix. Ce mémoire affirme que la reconnaissance d'identités alternatives françaises démantèle les discours dominants sur l'identité française, basés sur les idéologies essentialistes et colonialistes, et contribue à l'émergence de cultures de paix en France. Cette étude utilise l'analyse théorique du contenu, la recherche qualitative basée sur la littérature et l'analyse du discours à partir de données secondaires afin de revoir en profondeur les concepts d'identité et d'identités alternatives, ainsi que d'évaluer de manière critique l'identité française, les théories et les pratiques de la paix. Les résultats de la recherche indiquent que le système républicain français actuel est issu d'une culture de guerre et de violence, et que la paix et les identités alternatives sont intrinsèquement liées. Ce mémoire pose les bases théoriques de la transformation des conflits internes et sociétaux sur l'identité française et de la construction de cultures de paix en France.Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el nexo entre la identidad, Francia y la paz. Examina la relación entre la construcción de la identidad francesa y el surgimiento de culturas de paz. Esta tesis afirma que el reconocimiento de las identidades alternativas francesas desmantela los principales discursos sobre la identidad francesa, basados en ideologías esencialistas y colonialistas, y contribuye a las culturas de paz en Francia. En este estudio se utiliza el análisis del contenido teórico, la investigación cualitativa basada en la literatura y el análisis del discurso a partir de datos secundarios para examinar a fondo los conceptos de identidad e identidades alternativas, así como para evaluar críticamente la identidad francesa, y las teorías y prácticas de paz. Las conclusiones de la investigación indican que el actual sistema republicano francés proviene de una cultura de guerra y violencia, y que la paz y las identidades alternativas están intrínsecamente vinculadas entre sí. Esta tesis sienta las bases teóricas para la transformación de los conflictos internos y sociales sobre la identidad francesa y la construcción de culturas de paz en Francia

La communication organisante : Études de cas en communication organisationnelle

Au cours des dernières années, de nombreux chercheurs et chercheuses ont élaboré un ensemble d’approches théoriques (systémiques, fonctionnalistes, interprétatives, critiques ou constitutives) pour penser la communication et rendre compte de son pouvoir organisant. Cependant, la majorité de ces travaux ont été publiés en anglais et peu de ressources existent pour l’enseignement, en français, de ces approches. Cet ouvrage collectif vient combler ce manque en présentant une application pratique des théories en communication organisationnelle à travers 16 études de cas. Ainsi, l’objectif premier de ce livre est de montrer comment les approches récentes permettent de comprendre les défis auxquels font face les organisations et celles et ceux qui les peuplent et les font vivre. Les études de cas portent sur une diversité de thématiques, comme le pouvoir et l’autorité, les technologies numériques, la créativité et l’entrepreneuriat, la culture organisationnelle et l’interculturalité, ainsi que l’affect et la souffrance au travail. Celles-ci s’ancrent dans des contextes québécois et francophones, proches de la réalité et des préoccupations des étudiantes et étudiants