Tuesday 17 January 2012

Leverhulme Fellowship awarded for 'The Philosophy of Creativity'

Berys Gaut, Professor of Philosophy (School of Philosophical, Anthropological & Film Studies), has been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. Leverhulme Major Research Fellowships are awarded to distinguished researchers in the disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences to devote themselves to a single research project of outstanding originality and significance. Professor Gaut's project is entitled 'The Philosophy of Creativity', and it is to construct a systematic philosophical framework for thinking about creativity. Its development will draw on philosophy, research in psychology, and case studies of creativity in science and art. The ensuing monograph will discuss the concept of creativity; its value; whether it is an entirely rational disposition or has an irrational element to it; whether it is a kind of problem solving disposition; the role of know-how in creativity; whether one can teach people to be creative; the relation of creativity to imagination; its relation to tradition; and whether creativity can be explained in scientific terms.