The Creation of Art

The Creation of Art. New Essays in Philosophical Aesthetics, edited by Berys Gaut and Paisley Livingston, Cambridge University Press, May 2003.

Although creativity, from Plato onwards, has been recognized as a topic in philosophy, it has been overshadowed by investigations of the meanings and values of works of art. In this new collection of essays a distinguished roster of philosophers of art redress this trend. The subjects discussed include the nature of creativity and the process of artistic creation ; the role that creative making should play in our understanding and evaluation of art ; relations between concepts of creation and creativity; and ideas of tradition, metaphor, genius, imagination, and genre.

Contents :

The creation of art : issues and perspectives (B. Gaut and P. Livingston); How to create a fictional character (P. Lamarque); Drawings as drawn : an approach to creation in art (P. Maynard); Pentimento (P. Livingston); Exemplary originality : genius, universality and individuality (P. Guyer); The inexplicable : some thoughts after Kant (T. Cohen); Creativity and imagination (B. Gaut); Explanations of creativity (D. Novitz); Culture, convention and creativity (S. H. Olsen); Art, creativity, and tradition (N. Carroll); Elster on artistic creativity (J. Levinson); The transfiguration of classical Hollywood norms : on Von Sternbergs last films with Dietrich (G. Wilson).