Introduction: The Conditions for Creation and Invention

As an introduction, Chapter 1 (“The Conditions for Creation and Invention”) surveys and then develops the optimal conditions for creation in general and artistic creation in particular. These conditions, which favor invention and creation in a system, include “loose connectedness” (von Foerster’s theorem), “vagueness” (Peirce and Wittgenstein), “unachievement” (Bakhtine), “indeterminacy” (Ingarden). Processes involving an operative action such as the establishment of inventive connections, the creation of paradoxical situations (an “orderly disorder”), and the invention of a mediating artefact are carefully examined. Linguistic and literary examples exemplify the theoretical presentation.