Echoes of Silence: A Phenomenological Study of the Creative Process

Abstract

Creativity, when studied from both psychological and philosophical perspectives, emerges as a significant and uniquely human experience. The phenomenological method, widely recognized as the philosophical method best suited to the study of human experience, is used both to organize this article and to interpret its findings. I correlate noematic (or static) data concerning the experience of the creative act as it is perceived by creative people with noetic (or dynamic) data concerning the nature and meaning of the creative act itself. Ghiselin's (1952) anthology, The Creative Process, is the main source for primary material on the creative experiences of artists and poets. These writings are then closely examined phenomenologically--contrasting Nietzsche's and Poincare's analyses of the creative process with more recent theories of creativity--and common themes identified. Thus, creativity is viewed through the medium of a phenomenologically informed process orientation, which excludes both the idea that creativity has as its end a finalized product and the idea that the personal traits of the artist somehow completely determine this product. I then explore the reciprocal nature of interdisciplinarity by incorporating the different perspectives and concerns of creator and audience, literary and visual artist, philosopher and psychologist.