Spring 2024 First-Year Seminar BC1751 section 001

Creativity and Inspiration

CREATIVITY AND INSPIRATIO

Call Number 00183
Day & Time
Location
TR 2:40pm-3:55pm
404 Barnard Hall
Points 3
Grading Mode Pass/Fail
Approvals Required None
Instructor Christopher P Prodoehl
Type SEMINAR
Course Description

Where do creative ideas come from? The Muses, according to Plato. The unconscious, according to some later thinkers. One thing both answers share is the thought that creative ideas come from something “other than” or “not controlled by” the creator – or, as we’ll put it, that creativity requires inspiration. In this class, we will explore this and related ideas in Western thinking about creativity. In doing so, we’ll examine how creative people themselves, from painters to mathematicians, have described their own creative process and experiences. We’ll examine approaches to creativity from the Taoist tradition, comparing them with the Western approaches that will be our main focus. At the end of the class, we’ll think about whether computer programs can be creative, and what it might mean for claims about inspiration if they can be. Readings will include selections from Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret Boden, Chung-yuan Chang, bell hooks, Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum, and others.

 

Web Site Vergil
Department First-Year Seminar Program @Barnard
Enrollment 14 students (16 max) as of 10:05AM Thursday, December 5, 2024
Subject First-Year Seminar
Number BC1751
Section 001
Division Barnard College
Note Barnard 1st Year Students Only
Section key 20241FYSB1751X001