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A review by maar_deen
The Origins of Creativity by Edward O. Wilson
4.0
I’ve always seen creativity as the most valuable trait that humans possess. Unfortunately, biases led to a widening schism between sciences and humanities, which is also quite limiting when we subconsciously categorize humans and put labels on their personalities – more into sciences can’t get mixed with more into creative things. In “The Origins of Creativity” Edward O. Wilson is trying to show the deep connection between science and creativity, which – given his perspective – don’t only intertwine, but actually have the same roots, in our unlimited curiosity. And these origins are buried deep in our evolutionary path, the first evidence of creativity lasting from over one hundred thousand years ago.
The author defines the human conscience as combined – being able to understand both the outer world and the forces that govern the universe (this being the essence of sciences) and the inner reality, consisting of all things the human mind can imagine (meaning humanities). Even if he supports humanities and tries to interpret them using a scientific approach, Wilson states that they are not complete, limited to our human nature. True, but even if we were to expand this field to what all other species felt and experienced, they would still be limited. Some species have senses that we don’t, such as echolocation, infrared and ultraviolet vision or electric and magnetic sense. But even so, any kind of life that evolved in a certain environment (the earth, in this case) would have evolved with respect to that reference system, so we can’t talk about an objective experience.
There are many other subjects covered in this book, and even though he doesn't come with a direct answer about the origins of creativity, he talks about the common origin arts and sciences have, which is really interesting. More about it on my blog
The author defines the human conscience as combined – being able to understand both the outer world and the forces that govern the universe (this being the essence of sciences) and the inner reality, consisting of all things the human mind can imagine (meaning humanities). Even if he supports humanities and tries to interpret them using a scientific approach, Wilson states that they are not complete, limited to our human nature. True, but even if we were to expand this field to what all other species felt and experienced, they would still be limited. Some species have senses that we don’t, such as echolocation, infrared and ultraviolet vision or electric and magnetic sense. But even so, any kind of life that evolved in a certain environment (the earth, in this case) would have evolved with respect to that reference system, so we can’t talk about an objective experience.
There are many other subjects covered in this book, and even though he doesn't come with a direct answer about the origins of creativity, he talks about the common origin arts and sciences have, which is really interesting. More about it on my blog