The Act of Creation (108 page)

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Authors: Arthur Koestler

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definitions of, 509-10
learning through, 509 et seq.
Play of ideas, 65-6
Pleasure, derivation of, 495
Pledge, H. T., 228
Plotinus, 148
Plots, 345. et seq.
cataloguing, 354-5, 355-7
Plutarch, 237
Poet
element of explorer inherent, 507
imagery produced by metaphor, 167, 320
Poetic inspiration, 315
Poetry, learning, 521
Poincaré, Henri, 145, 147, 164, 165, 166, 211, 212, 234, 329, 330
discovery of Fuchsian functions, 114-16
Pointillist, 376
Polànyi, M., 21, 159, 242-3, 244, 464, 564, 588
Political cartoon, 70
Polya, G., 177, 650, 652
Polyp, 451
marine, 456
Popper, K. R., 176, 246
Practicality and abstraction, 705-6
Pre-conscious state, 152, 159
Pribram, K. H., 433
Priestley, Joseph, 204
Principa, 663
"Principle of Contemplementary", 198
Principles of Gestalt Psychology, 517
Pringle. J.W.S., 519
Printing-press, 121-4
Probability, theory of, 103
Problem-solving, 635, 649 et seq.
Problems
routine of solving, 651
searching for a code, 652-4
solution by analytical method, 650
solving by synthetic method, 650
Projective empathy, 296, 374, 386, 387
Proteins, 418
Proust, 312
Provisional tries, 571
Pseudo-proverb, 79
Psychoanalysis, 188
Psychological field theory, 498
Psychology
and motivation. 495 et seq.
fashion in, 248
new orientation, 498 et seq.
self-transcending emotions and, 285 et seq.
Psychology from the Standpoint of Behaviourist, 557
Psychology of Laughter and Comedy, 32
Psycho-physical isomorphism theory, 588
Psychoses, hallucinatory, 324
Psychotherapy, 188, 242
aims of, 465
free-association method, 631
regeneration and, 461
Ptolemy, 128, 234
Puerperal fever, 239
Pulsation. 311-12
Pun, 77, 179
bisociation of single phonetic form with two meanings, 64-5
optical, 182
sound affinity, 314, 315
Punch and Judy, 48, 49
Punning, 186-7
compulsive, 315-16
Punning mania, 65
"Purchas's Pilgrimage", 166, 168
Pure consciousness, 635
Puzzle box, cat in, 568-70
Pygmalion, 47
Pyke, M., 227
Pythagoras, 111, 191, 255
discovery of musical pitch, 111, 191
Pythagorean revival and Shakespeare, 674
Pythagorean Scale, 260
Pythagoreans, 48, 215, 227, 259-60, 675
Quantum mechanics, 245
Quantum physics, 199
Quixote, Don, 46
Raptness as reason for weeping, 273-4
Rationality of nature, 680
Rats, experiments with, 458-9, 500, 502, 520, 556, 558, 567-8
Reading, 534
Reason, emotions and, 56
Reasoning, unconscious processes and, 163
Reasoning skills, 40
Recall, 539-41
Receptors, 435
Red Queen, 77-8
Reflex
defined, 28-9, 499
laughter, 28 et seq.
Reflex arc, 498
Reflexes, twin, 62
Regeneration
axial gradients in, 455-6
creativity and, 463-5
evolution and, 465-6
pychotherapy and, 461
Regenerations
routine, 457
structural, 454-5
Regenerative equilibrium, 454
Regenerative span, 450-2
Regiomontanus, 704
Regression
of poetic inspiration, 315, 316
value of, 173
Regressions, momentary, 169
Reik, T., 188
Relativity, Theory of, 183, 243-6
discovery of principle of, 111, 175-6
Relevance, 625
Relief, as reason for weeping, 276-8
Religion, scientists and, 260-3
Rembrandt, 69, 328
Renan, Ernest, 147, 261
Renoir, 554
Repetition of syllables, 314
Repressed complexes, 181
Repressors, 419
Responses, 499
Reticular activating system, 505
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, 217
Rhyming, 314
Rhythm
and rhyme, 311 et seq.
Law of Infolding and, 340-1
Rhythmic periodicities, 313
Ribot, T. A., 32
Richards, I. A., 311, 340
Richardson, O. W., 230
Richter, Jean-Paul, 151
Riddle, 85, 86
Riddles of the Universe, The, 250
Richmann, M., 204
Ripeness, 144, 145
for discovery, 108 et seq.
RNA, 427, 455
Roberts, L., 601
Rock-'n'-Roll, 311
Rohrschach, 375, 376
Rohrschach test, 538
Romeo and Juliet, 68
Röntgen, W.K., 195
Root and the flower, the, 362-3
Rosamund, 68
Rosenthal, R., 568
Rosetta stone, 90, 186
Royal Society, 132
Ruch, T. C., 443, 553
Ruskin, 395
Russell, Bertrand, 200, 251, 262, 265, 556, 567, 586, 587, 606
Rutherford, 176, 671
Sadist, 65
Sage, 27, 255
Saint-Hilaire, Geoffroy, 132, 133
St. Thomas Aquinas, 148, 228, 255
St. Vitus's dance, 311
Salamander, 426, 430
normal function of transplanted limb, 457
regeneration of eye lens, 456
regeneration of lost limb, 454
Sancho, 38
Sandemanians, 688
Sarsi, Father, 240
Sartor, Henry, 224
Satire, 72-4
Scanning
objects and rules of the process, 162
visual and mental, 158 et seq.
Schelling, 151
Schiller, F., 257, 318
Schizophrenic symbols, 324
Schopenhauer, 36, 354
Schrödinger, Erwin, 245, 265
Science
boredom of, 263-6
boundaries of, 248-52
emotion and, 255 et seq.
fashions in, 246-8
history of, see Science, History of
hypnotism and, 239
Law of Infolding and, 342-3
martyrology of, 239
orthodoxy and, 238, 239
progress towards universal laws, 352
relationship with art, 27, 28
religion and, 261-2
religious mysticism and, 260-1
'river-delta' pattern of progress, 352
words as tools and traps for, 176
Science, history of, 224 et seq.
controversies, 240
impact of religion and politics, 238, 239
neither continuous, nor cumulative, 253
twenty-six centuries of, 227-8
Science and Human Behaviour, 556, 557
Scientific evidence, 242
Scientific Revolution, 260
leaders of, 677-84
Scientists
abstraction and practicality, 705-6
and the infinite, 261-3
bisociation and, 72
catharsis of problems, 328
destruction of the self-evident, 176-7
discovery and, 190 (see also Discovery)
intellectual characteristics of, 703-8
irrationality in, 146
motivational drive, 675
multiple potential, 706-8
precociousness of, 703-4
religion and, 260-3
the Benevolent Magicians, 255-6
the creative and his audience, 263-6
the Mad Professors, 256
the uninspired Pedant, 256-7
the White Magician, 257-8
visual imagery and, 169-73
Scott, Sir W., 211
Screening activity in hearing, 513 et seq.
Selection, 333
Selective emphasis, 397
Self-amputation in animals. 451
Self-assertive tendencies, 255, 257, 259, 305
in humour, 52, 56, 57, 95
in organic hierarchy, 449
of part-behaviour, 468
sublimation of, 259
Self-awareness, degrees of, 633-5
Self-pity as reason for weeping, 280
Self-transcendence, 303
voluntary, 294
Self-transcending emotions, 54, 258, 263, 285, 298, 305, 328
in weeping, 273-4
sublimation of, 261
Semantic differentials, 644
Semmelweiss, Ignaz, 239, 240
Semon, R., 531
Sense of wonder, 674 et seq.
Sensory gratification, difference from aesthetic satisfaction, 385
Seurat, 174, 329
Sex-drive, 496
Sexual tension, 496
Shaftesbury, Earl of, 15o
Shakespeare, 148
Shaw, G. B., 47, 120
Shelley, P. B., 321
Sherrington, Sir Charles, 28, 432, 498
Sign-learning theory, 497
Simplification, 333
Skill
autonomous and automatic functioning, 550-1
balancing, 548
complex, assertive tendencies of, 552
dual control in exercise of, 38
hierarchic structure of complex, 288-9
morphogenic, 415
motor, 544 et seq.
perceptual, 489 et seq.
hearing, 513 et seq.
prenatal, 415 et seq.
vegetative, 415
Skinner, B. F., 157, 496, 499, 500, 556, 557, 559
Skinner Box, 248
Smiling, facial changes in, 29
Smithers, D. W., 456
Smoke micrographs, 389, 390
Snobbery, the aesthetics of, 400 et seq.
'Snowblindness' of thinkers, 216-20
Soccer, 552
techniques of playing, 549
Sound affinity, association by, 314-15
Souriau, 145
Space and Time, 174-5
Speak, learning to, 592 et seq.
Spearman, C., 177
Speech
action-words of children, 606-7
childhood aspects of, 594-6
concepts and labels in, 597-9
dawn of symbol consciousness, 594-6
direct, in illusion, 310
ideation and verbalization in, 600-3
memory and, 533-5
motor activity precedes sensory control, 594
preparation before, 592-3
verbal behaviour in, 593-4
Spencer, Herbert, 55, 69, 432
Spider, code of rules in building web, 38
Spinoza, 650, 651
Sponges, 451
Spontaneous activities, 468
S-R Theories, 561-2
Stamping-in, 521 522, 549-50
Steam engine, 102, 109
Stein, Gertrude, 433
Stickleback, reproductive behaviour of, 479
Stimuli, 499
Strategy, related to skill, 38
Structural differentiation, 416, 417
"Studies on the Telegraphic Language", 544
Stutterers, bisociation of, 74
Style, artistic, 334-5, 336-7
Style codes, 640-1
Sublimation, magic and, 258-63
Subliminal self, 164
Subsidiary awareness, 159
Sullivan, Miss, 222
Sully, J., 29
Super-ego, 65
Suzuki, D. T., note on, 177
Swift, Dean, 73, 252, 257
Swinburne, 322
Sylvester II, 255
Symbolism, concretization and, 182-6
Symbolist movement, 337
Sympathico-adrenal system, 57, 59, 62, 88, 280, 305
Sympathy as reason for weeping, 278-9
Syntheses, premature
Keplerian cosmology, 215
things and numbers, 215
Tancred, 133
Taste, 385-7
Taton, R., 234
Technical communications, 265
Telegraphy, 551
learning processes in, 544-5
Telepathy, 188
Tension, unpleasurable, 496 et seq.
Thacker, L. A., 506
Theophrastus, 664
Theorizing, derivation of term, 260
Thinking
abstraction of pre-verbal concepts, 607-10
application of the term 'code', 638
associative, 635
causality, 615-18
concretization of relation' between words and things, 613-14
dimensional variables, 630-1
directive, 635
discrimination in, 610-11
explanation, nature of, 618
in pictures, 168, 322-5
logic, 625-9
magical, 261
master-switches and releasers, 635-7
mathematical, 39, 40, 621-5
multi-dimensional, 630-2
not a linear process, 159
physiological aspect of, 57-8
pictorial, 167, 168
recognition and transfer, 611-13
rules and codes, 637-41
single plane, 35, 36
some aspects of, 630 et seq.
steps in purposive, 163
underground, 178 et seq.
verbal, 38-9, 43
visual, 347-8
Thinking -- an experimental and Social Study, quoted, 231
Thinking aside, 145 et seq., 182
Thompson, d'Arcy, 466
Thompson, J. J., 671
Thompson, W. R., 502
Thorndike, E. L., 495, 504, 557, 568, 569, 570, 586
Thorpe, W. H., 450, 477, 478, 483, 491, 492, 493, 506, 511, 548, 562,
565, 567
Thought
abdication of conceptual, 170
hooked atoms of, 164-6
influence of unconscious processes on, 159 et seq.
laws of, 628
matrices of, 38 et seq.
matrix of verbal, 38-9, 43
pathology of, 235-40
rules in disciplined. 178
verbal, specific patterns of, 636-7
Thought processes, mathematical, 39, 40
Tickling, bisociation of, 79
Tillyard, E.M.W., 674
Time, Space and, 174-5
Tinbergen, N., 415, 433, 449, 450, 475, 481, 482, 506, 557, 565, 566
hierarchic control of instinct-activity, 478-80
Tolman, E. C., 497, 500, 561, 570, 571
Tolstoy, L., 339
Tools
discovery of, 101-3
making of, 103-5, 573
use of, 573
Total matrix, 641
Touch-typing, 545
Towns with M (parlour game), 162, 643-4
Tragedy, 304
cathartic function of, 307
Tragic and trivial planes, 358 et seq.
Traité de Mineralogie, 193
Transfer, 611
Transference, 296
Transmutation of chemical elements, 215
Transparency of language, 155
Trans-substantiation, 294
Trauma, 449
factors leading to regenentive or pathological changes, 456
Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, 141
Treatise on Paintings, 375
Trial and error learning, 576, 577
Tribal mentality, 308
Triptych, 27, 28, 46, 47, 48, 54, 88, 89, 91, 255
Tri-valency of creative activity, 45
Trivial Plane, 363-364, 365
True play, 509-10
Truth
a function of beauty, 331
and beauty, 327-31
Tucker, Abraham, 152
Tumours, due to physiological isolation, 456
Tune, 520
Turgenev, 318
Twist, the, 311
Tycho de Brahe, 127, 128, 131, 213, 240, 249, 256, 662, 678
Tyndall, John, 690
Type-casting, 123
Typing, 552
learning processes in, 544, 545-6
stamping-in, 550
Unconscious
an automaton, 164
coaxing the, 317-19
concept of the, 147-54
forgetting and the, 190
thinking in pictures, 168, 322-5
two-way traffic with conscious, 181-2
"Unconscious, before Freud, The", 148
Unconscious cerebration, 152
Unconscious guidance, theory of nature of, 164
Unconscious understanding, 619
Understanding, gradations of, 619-20
Unified Field Theory, 251
Unity-in-diversity, 387
Unity-in-variety, 388, 390
Universe, 260-1, 662
Aristotelian system, 237
classic example of mental block, 236
Copernican, 94, 125, 216-17, 234, 677
Einstein's, 244-45, 260, 262
expanding and steady-state controversy, 241
Kepler and the, 103, 124-30, 176, 199,
213, 217, 237, 261, 290, 677, 679, 684
Newtonian, 175, 245, 685
Ptolemlic system, 677
Universes of discourse, 38, 40
Uranus, 614
Usher, Bishop, 685
Vaccination, 112-14
Valéry, Paul, 317
van Helmont, 663
van Megeeren, 401
Van't Hoff 240
Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 137, 139
Verbal ability, note on, 605
Verbal behaviour, 593-4
in speeches, 593
Verbal creation, 301 et seq.
Verbal models, 634
Verbal symbolism, 594-6
Verbal thought
among mathematicians, 172-3
matrix on, 38-9, 43
specific patterns of, 636-7
value of regression from, 173
Verne, Jules, 256
Verse, 313
nonsense, bisociation of exalted and trivial, 78-9
Vesalius, 265
Vestiges of Creation, 132
Virgil, 146
Vision
limits of focal, 158
non-existence of static, 158
note on, 50
Visual constancies, 43, 373, 515
Visual creation, 366 et seq.
Visual imagery, scientist's and, 169-73
Visual inferences in Art, 373-6
Visual input, in piano-playing, 547
Visual learning, 526-7
Visual perception, reversability in, 192
Visual scanning, 158 et seq.
comparison with mental scanning, 161
Visual thinkers, 348
Visual thinking, 183
Vogue, 36
Volta, 667
Voltaic battery, 667, 668
von Bertalanffy, L., 432, 448
von Holst, E., 435, 438
Voodoo-dancers, 311
Wallace, A. R., 137, 141, 142, 143, 207 690
Wallis, C., 21
Walter, G., 49
Warden's maze experiment, 598-9
Wasps, 476, 486, 566
Waterston, J. J., note on, 254
Watson, J. B., 220, 496, 504, 507, 557, 558, 559, 594, 610
Watson-Crick model, 417
Watt, James, 69
Webster, D. L., 669
Weeping, 299
comparison with crying, 271-2
psychology of, 271 et seq.
reasons for, 273-82
Weiss, Paul, 433, 435, 440, 441, 441, 443, 444, 506, 519
Wellington, Duke of, quoted, 44
Wells, H. G., 60, 174, 256, 383
Wernicke, C., 533
Whale, Jonah and the, 360-1
White Magician, 257
Whitehead, A. N., 251, 265
Whyte, L. L., 148, 151, 153, 177, 260
Wiener, Norbert, 177
Wilde, Oscar, 77, 79, 85, 92
Wilkes, John, 36
Wilson chamber, 249
Wine-press, 163
Wit
malicious, 92
note on, 50
Wit and its Relations to the Unconscious, 32
Wittgenstein, L., 177
Witticism, 64-7
derivation of term, 28
Wolff, Christian, 150
Wollberg, L.R., 375
Woodger, J. H., 432
Woodworth, R. S., 173, 448, 481, 505, 544, 562, 600, 647
Wonder, sense of, 674 et seq.
Wonderful Century, The, 690
Word-association tests, 39-40, 636, 637
code for, 39
Word-associationist school, 161
Word-habit, 551
in telegraphy, 544
Words
as tools and traps, 176
snaring of scientific thought by, 175
Wordsworth, W., 152
Wright, Almroth, 707
Writing, economy in, 339
Wundt, W., 153

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