Introductions to Continental Philosophy: What is Creativity?

About this course

The course uses creativity as an entry point into Continental philosophy, asking how new ideas, artworks and ways of living emerge. Participants examine questions about imagination, freedom, desire, materials, bodily experience, learning, repetition and constraint. The discussions draw on Kant, Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze. Topics include originality and artistic invention, self-creation, phenomenology, and the relationship between ideas and the mediums through which they are expressed. The course also considers distinctions between artistic creation, scientific invention and technological innovation, connecting philosophical ideas with different practices.

What you'll learn

• Formulate philosophical questions about creativity and the emergence of something new.
• Examine how imagination, freedom, desire, materials and bodily experience shape creative activity.
• Distinguish between artistic creation, scientific invention and technological innovation.
• Explore Kant’s account of originality, skill and artistic invention.
• Relate philosophical ideas about creativity to different disciplines and practices.

Is this course right for you?

The course is intended as an introduction to Continental philosophy and is labelled Beginner. This suggests an accessible starting point for learners developing familiarity with philosophical questions, rather than a course presented as requiring established specialist knowledge.