The paper provides a philosophical insight into the contemporary critical trends in the university life, and an outline of possible solutions based on the historical overview of an idea of university. The particular section is devoted to the depiction of situation in Slovakia. The author suggests that the creative reconstruction of academic practices is the key to the future of university.

In this article, I deal with the concept of aesthetics in its broader sense: the ability of feeling, thinking, and creating. My theory is that this aesthetics was born 40,000 years ago in the Paleolitical caves and that it has been characterizing human creativity from its remote origins up to now. Following this theory, we should not define human creativity as a greater cleverness than that of other living species; however, we should think of it as a refined aesthetic ability (...) of mind in connecting different worlds, enacting different levels of communication, and creating images and symbols. (shrink)

There is a demand to nurture scientific creativity in science education. This paper proposes that the relevant conceptual infrastructure with which to teach scientific creativity is often already included in philosophy of science courses, even those that do not cover scientific creativity explicitly. More precisely, it is shown how paradigm theory can serve as a framework with which to introduce the differences between combinational, exploratory, and transformational creativity in science. Moreover, the types of components given in Kuhn’s disciplinary matrix are (...) argued to indicate a further subdivision within transformational creativity that makes explicit that this most radical type of creativity that aims to go beyond and thus to transform the current paradigm can take many different directions. More generally, it is argued that there are several synergies between the topic of scientific creativity and paradigm theory that can be utilized in most philosophy of science courses at relative ease. Doing so should promote the understanding of scientific creativity among students, provide another way to signify the relevance of paradigm theory, and more strategically be a way of reinforcing the place of philosophy of science in science education. (shrink)

In the discourse of the knowledge-based economy, the link between creativity and innovation is usually taken for granted. However, not only is this link of recent date, it joins together two diametrically opposed concepts: the economic concept of innovation and the humanistic concept of creativity. In research too, there is a lack of enquiry into the nature of the processes of creativity and innovation and into how these processes are similar yet different. Building on the original insights of Henri Poincaré (...) and Joseph Schumpeter, I present the hypothesis that creativity and innovation are similar in nature, not in regard to knowledge or skills, but in that both are ways of relating to the novel. My findings suggest, meanwhile, that creativity and innovation differ in that creativity is about experiencing the novel in the creative process, whereas innovation is about willing the novel as a strategy for the innovative process. Furthermore, my findings suggest that there exists a structural similarity between creativity and innovation and Aristotle’s concepts of practical and philosophical wisdom, in that innovation is a form of practical wisdom in regard to the novel, whereas creativity is a form of philosophical wisdom in regard to the novel. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to contribute to the conceptualization of creativity in education. The article makes use of the self-Bildung perspective, which is an up-to-date version of the Neo-humanistic notion of the formation of the personality in order to interpret the original notion of the 'four stages' of the creative process. The conclusion is that in this perspective creativity can be understood as a state of transcendence and a practice of taste. Finally, the article seeks to sketch out (...) a suggestion of the creative capacities that are important to cultivate in education. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to contribute to the conceptualization of creativity in education. The article makes use of the self-Bildung perspective, which is an up-to-date version of the Neo-humanistic notion of the formation of the personality in order to interpret the original notion of the ‘four stages’ of the creative process. The conclusion is that in this perspective creativity can be understood as a state of transcendence and a practice of taste. Finally, the article seeks to sketch out (...) a suggestion of the creative capacities that are important to cultivate in education. (shrink)

This three-part publication series presents the epistemological processes and outcomes of an international arts-based research project titled Big Blue Ball : Pictures, people, place. The project uses the creative function to investigate the nature of meaning-making. In particular, through collaborative engagement with adversity of cultures, it explores the significance of creativity and creative practice in setting up sites for shared understanding in a contemporary and globally interactive world. The project was developed and carried out by Donna Wright during her PhD (...) Candidature at Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia, between 2004 and 2007. Making use of practice-led research strategies, and drawing on creative arts practice, the project has exploited the inherent capacity of the creative function to support innovation. The project design offers a new model of intertextual processes of creativity that opens up spaces for intercultural negotiation, by linking spatial conceptions and processes for semiotic mediations, to multiple, interconnected mediums for the production and reception of new information. This in turn provides a context in which to support knowledge discovery that may facilitate intercultural awareness and understanding. (shrink)