Boundless Creativity

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511761225.008

8 - Boundless Creativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Edited by

James C. Kaufman and

Kevin Hilton: Affiliation:
Northumbria University
David H. Cropley: Affiliation:
University of South Australia
Arthur J. Cropley: Affiliation:
University of Hamburg
James C. Kaufman: Affiliation:
California State University at San Bernardino
Mark A. Runco: Affiliation:
University of Georgia

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Summary

From an open-minded perspective of creativity knowing no bounds, this chapter discusses some darker aspects of creativity and the role of ethics in responsible design practice and considers the potential need to engage with unethical perspectives in order to “design” more responsibly. This chapter also describes how “Cyclic Countering of Competitive Creativity” (C4), as a critical design process, enables effective engagement with the likes of crime and terrorism.

The intention is to first discuss perspectives on the darker side of creativity in recognition of there being naturalness to it that comes as a condition of human beings' reflexive use of knowledge and to propose that the value of the perceived “good and evil” achieved through creativity is in its balance. This includes an acknowledgment that worldviews and our use and abuse of socioeconomic and technological opportunities can tip that balance in ways that create a need to correct through cessation or redirective practices (Willis, 2008).

When there are no bounds to creativity, creative processes may equally identify and apply opportunities for good or evil, although the concept of good and evil is a human construct relating to helping or harming. We may claim that conscious perception of good and evil enables virtuous behavior, yet either outcome may be achieved by either thoughtful or thoughtless responses to opportunity in more complex situations. At times, to appreciate the nature of a given situation, an understanding of consequences requires higher levels of thinking – systems thinking (Checkland, 1981).

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Dark Side of Creativity , pp. 134 - 154

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761225.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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