The creativity literature tells us that, even though we’re just now beginning to appreciate the importance of creativity in everyday life, it is a topic pondered by poets and philosophers since time immemorial. In fact, “creativity” has only been a regular part of our vocabulary since the middle of the twentieth century. (a)Its first known written occurrence was in 1875, making it an infant as far as words go. “Creativeness” goes back a bit further, and was more common than creativity until about 1940, but both were used rarely and in an inconsistent kind of way. Strikingly, before about 1950 there were approximately zero articles, books, essays, classes, encyclopedia entries, or anything of the sort dealing explicitly with the subject of “creativity.” (The earliest dictionary entry I found was from 1966.) It is not, it turns out, in Plato or Aristotle (even in translation). It’s not in Kant (ditto). It’s not in Wordsworth or Shelley, or in the Americans Emerson, William James, or John Dewey. As the intellectual historian Paul Oskar Kristeller finds, creativity, though we tend to assume it is a timeless concept, is a term with “poor philosophical and historical credentials.” Yet, just around the end of World War II, the use of creativity shot upward — the Big Bang of creativity.
When I tell people the term “creativity” is new, I invariably get the question, “what did we call it before?” And my response, annoying but sincere, is always “what do you mean by ‘it’?” There are two assumptions behind the first question, both correct. The first is that words and concepts are not the same thing; the arrival or popularization of a new word does not necessarily mean the arrival of a totally new concept. The senior citizen and the old person, for example, are two different eras ways for describing the same person — one who is advanced in age. The second assumption is that people have always been talking about the kind of stuff we talk about when we talk about creativity — in the way that people have always talked about old age. It’s not totally wrong to say that creativity is, or at least can be in certain instances, a new term for old concepts, such as imagination, inspiration, fantasy, genius, originality, and even phrases like creative imagination and creative power, which long predated creativity itself.
Yet the modern concept of creativity does not perfectly trace back to any one of these older words. Ingenuity or ( ア ) is too utilitarian; it lacks the artsy vibe. Creativity may invoke monumental achievements in art and science, but as a synonym the term ( イ ) somehow feels too exclusive and grandiose, while ( ウ ) is a little too pedestrian, something you might attribute to a pig that finds its way out of its pen. Originality hits closer to the mark, but it’s somehow not as soulful — nobody ever says originality is the key to a fulfilling life. ( エ ), perhaps the term most often used interchangeably with creativity, lacks a sense of productivity. Like fantasy, it doesn’t have to leave your head, and it can be utterly preposterous. The prevailing idea among creativity experts is that creativity is the “ability to produce something new and useful.” (That phrasing is taken — not coincidentally — from US patent law.) The term “creativity,” in other words, allows us to think and say things previous terms don’t. It is not a new word for old ideas but a way of expressing thoughts that were previously inexpressible. When people in the postwar era increasingly chose the word “creativity,” then, they were subtly distinguishing their meaning from those other, almost universally older concepts. The term may not be precise, but it is vague in precise and meaningful ways. (b)Just as light can be both particle and wave, creativity somehow manages to exist as simultaneously mental and material, playful and practical, artsy and technological, exceptional and pedestrian. This contradictory constellation of meanings and connotations, more than any one definition or theory, is what explains its appeal in postwar America, in which the balance between those very things seemed gravely at stake. The slipperiness was a feature, not a bug.
intellectual history → 『知』に関する歴史学のこと。思想史・精神史・文化史などと訳される。
assume → (根拠なく)仮定する、推定する
timeless → 時が経っても色褪せない、時を超越した
term → 用語
credential → 証明するもの、資格、実績
shot upward → 急上昇する、急激に増える
invariably → 決まって、いつも
annoying → イライラした
sincere 正直な、誠実な
⭐︎annoying and sincereは responseの説明と捉える。annoyingは『苛立たせるような』という意味で、私の返答が『相手を苛立たせるようなものである』事を指す。筆者は自分の返答が相手を苛立たせることを理解しつつも、学者としての(誠実な)立場から、そのように答えていると言う事。
assumption → (根拠のない)仮定
popularization → 大衆化
the senior citizen → 高齢者。丁寧な言い方。
the old people → 老人。直接的で最近では避けられる言い方。
predate → (時間的に)先行する
trace back → 遡って辿る
ingenuity → 創意工夫
utilitarian → 実用的な、実利的な
inventiveness → 発明の才能
artsy=arty → 芸術家気取りの、芸術っぽい
vibe → 感じ、雰囲気
invoke → 想起させる、呼び起こす
monumental → 極めて重要な、歴史的な
synonym → 同義語、類義語
exclusive → 排他的な
grandiose → 壮大な、大袈裟な
pedestrian → 平凡でつまらない
pen → 家畜を入れるおり、囲い
attribute A to B → Aの性質がBにあると考える
something you might attribute to a pig → 関係代名詞省略でyou以降がsomethingにかかっている。少し読みにくいのでyou might attribute something to a pig.という文を考える。attribute A to Bは『Aの原因がBにあると考える』『Aの性質がBにあると考える』という意味であるが、ここでは後者。AがsomethingでBがa pigに相当する。somethingはclevernessの持つ語感のことであるから、『あなたはsomethingの性質(clevernessの語感)が豚にあると考える』ということ。
finds its way out of its pen → out of=from。(豚が)囲いから逃げ出す方法を見つける。
hit the mark → 的中する、成功する
soulful → 魂のこもった、情熱的な
interchangeably → 互換的に
productivity → 生産性
lacks a sense of productivity → creativityは想像だけでなく必ず何かを創り上げることを意味するが、imaginationは想像のみでよく、必ずしも何かを創り上げることを意味しないということ。
it doesn’t have to leave your head → itはimagination。itの候補として前文にimagination、creativity、productivityがあるが、文脈からimaginationと分かる。itがcreativityだとすると、fantasy=creativityということになってしまう。前述の古い語(『imagination(想像力)』『inspiration(着想)』『fantasy(空想)』『genius(天才)』『originality(独創性)』)がcreativityの意味とずれる点を指摘している流れなので、ありえない。
doesn’t have to leave your head → imaginationも fantasyも頭の中だけで完結するものだということ。
that phrasing → “ability to produce something new and useful”の言い回しのこと。
coincidentally → 偶然に
patent law → 特許法
not coincidentally → 偶然ではない=必然である。つまりcreativityとは、特許が取れる発明のような、新しくて有用なモノを作り出す能力であり、creativityという語自体にも、新しさ・有用性があるということ。
previously → 以前には
postwar era → 戦後期
subtly → 微妙に、巧妙に
distinguish A from B → AをBと区別する
their meaning → their meaningが何を指すかははっきりしないが、theirはtheyとpeopleを受けたものであり、単数のcreativityを受けているわけではないので注意。ここではmeaningを戦後の人々の価値観と捉えた。
those other, almost universally older concepts → those, other, olderの全てがconceptsを修飾している。almost universallyはolderを修飾している。大戦によってほぼ全ての価値観が覆されたことを示唆している。
the term → creativityのこと。
The term may not be precise, but it
is vague in precise and meaningful ways. → 厄介な一文。この文の意味は、この文の直後から文章の最後までに詳しく説明されているので、この一文だけで理解しようとしないほうが良い。文法的に整理してみると、in a precise wayとin a meaningful wayに分けて考えることができる。in a precise way=preciselyと副詞化して捉え、vagueを修飾していると見ると、『正確に曖昧だ』ということになる。『正確に曖昧だ』とは次の文以降にあるように、creativityという語が『(本来的に)明確に両義的である』事を指すものと思われる。またin a meaningful way=meaningfullyも vagueを修飾していると見て、『意義深く曖昧だ』と捉える。『意義深く曖昧だ』というのも、This contradictory constellation~以降に述べられているように、creativityの両義性はアメリカの戦後の世相を如実に表したもので、曖昧である事自体に意義があるということ。
light can be both particle and wave → 光が粒子と波の両方の性質を持つということは、たとえ物理を選択していない生徒であっても、常識として知っておくべき。
the balance between those very things → mental and material, playful and practical, artsy and technological, exceptional and pedestrianをうけている。当時のアメリカでは精神と物質、戯れと実用、芸術と技術、例外と平凡という価値観の相剋が、creativityの語義を超えて、社会的な問題であったということ。
(1) 難易度★★★ Its first known written occurrence was in 1875, making it an infant as far as words go. “Creativeness” goes back a bit further, and was more common than creativity until about 1940, but both were used rarely and in an inconsistent kind of way. Strikingly, before about 1950 there were approximately zero articles, books, essays, classes, encyclopedia entries, or anything of the sort dealing explicitly with the subject of “creativity.”
(2) 難易度★★ Yet the modern concept of creativity does not perfectly trace back to any one of these older words. Ingenuity or ( ア:inventiveness ) is too utilitarian; it lacks the artsy vibe. Creativity may invoke monumental achievements in art and science, but as a synonym the term ( イ:genius ) somehow feels too exclusive and grandiose, while ( ウ:cleverness ) is a little too pedestrian, something you might attribute to a pig that finds its way out of its pen. Originality hits closer to the mark, but it’s somehow not as soulful — nobody ever says originality is the key to a fulfilling life. ( エ:imagination ), perhaps the term most often used interchangeably with creativity, lacks a sense of productivity.
(3) 難易度★★★★ Just as light can be both particle and wave, creativity somehow manages to exist as simultaneously mental and material, playful and practical, artsy and technological, exceptional and pedestrian. This contradictory constellation of meanings and connotations, more than any one definition or theory, is what explains its appeal in postwar America, in which the balance between those very things seemed gravely at stake.