Session 3

Creativity and the nature of the universe / religion. What was the nature of the creativity of the creation?

The phenomenon of the "robber baron" - people who amassed enormous fortunes and then bestowed the money upon foundations, relatives, etc.

The difference between intuition and instinct - Bergson and the theory of creativity. Creativity as a search for perfection? Metaphysics of Plato vs. imperfect love.

Having a "good" life as a creative act. Nietzsche's idea of the Superman (the artist).

Is learning a creative process? Can learning science / engineering be a creative process?

Minsky's opinions on the "emotion machine" - can people learn about their own emotions by thinking about machine emotions?

Margaret Boden - what is creativity? Inventiveness of two sorts - superficial (exploratory), and inventive.

What is existence in relation to the Catholic idea of "ensoulment"? What is it never to have existed? What happens when the light of consciousness goes out?

Anthony's student presentation on the week's reading - summary of the reading, interpretations.

Freud as a reformer in sexual politics.

Imagination as a personal perception of the boundlesness of creativity. Humans are bounded by their imagination. How imagination changes the concept of the world.

Discussion of Proust.