On the Dialectical Phenomenology of Creativity

Abstract

I would like to present to you the idea of thinking about creativity in terms of the basic concepts of dialectical phenomenology. It is unnecessary to stop to examine the notion of dialectical phenomenology. Illustration of it is already before us in the shape of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit and his later writings about the philosophy of mind. We need not adopt Hegel’s own monistic spiritualistic metaphysics in taking over the basic ideas of dialectical phenomenology, nor need we presuppose a logically necessary and single-track line of development, whether in individual life, social life, or world history. What I wish to suggest is only the dialectical structure and meaning of the creative process, with the thought that study of this process in terms of dialectical phenomenology could open it up to a genuine mode of comprehension.