A Methodological Attempt to Discuss Creativity

This article was published in the Brusov University's journal 'Language, Society, Communication', in Russian, in 2010, when GTG was the editor-in-chief of the journal and Suren Zolyan was the Rector of the University.

The article is written within the Methodology of Systemic Thought Activity (MSTA). Analyzing the phenomenon and concept of creativity, the author suggests that an ontological definition of creativity should include such ideas as ‘distance/difference’ between the two ‘things’, and ‘a third position’.  Bringing the concept of will into the semiotic discourse of the relationship between subject (actor) and predication (action, act), as the only way to bridge the logical gap between the actor and the act, the author claims that proto-creativity is present in any action. The discussion, which dates back to the debate initiated by Bakhtin on Seaussure’s ideas in 1930s, is significantly enriched due to the achievements of MSTA in 1960s-1970s, particularly the idea of Georgiy Shchedrovitsky, the Founder of MSTA, on the importance of method of substitution for semiotics, as a tool in constructing signs and their constellations. In a polemic with nominative and ‘thing’ oriented positivistic humanitarian methodologies, which are still prevalent in the scholarly discourse, the author suggests a view, where action and activity are central for the construction of argument, having in mind all the consequent corrections that such a paradigm change requires, such as the final recognition of the principal liberty to act that the actor possesses, independently of the ‘limits’ of that liberty. The article contains significant observations on anthropocentrism of semiotics and linguistics, and concludes with an idea that in human communication and activity, any thing is in fact an underdeveloped metaphor of another human, and a human is an underdeveloped, curtailed metaphor of a god. Other important diversions touch upon the issue of simple versus complex subjects  (actors), the multifunctional role of the ‘third person’, etc.

Please read the article in Russian.

01:10 December 04, 2015