The crisis of creativity

the long version

Explores the character of creativity, especially in its historical aspects, and sets the concepts of such men as Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Freud, Hume and Bergson, against Seidel's own. A prime reason for the current creative malaise, the author contends, is the enormous amount of knowledge now at man's disposal. The sheer bulk of this information, coming as it does with such speed and from such diverse sources, exerts an inhibiting force on the creative unconscious. The author discusses the functions and relative importance of intelligence, neuroses, the senses, memory, passion, pain, and education in the development of creative capacities.