The Origins of Creativity by Edward O. Wilson (PDF)

Description

An eloquent exploration of creativity, The Origins of Creativity grapples with the question of how this uniquely human expression―so central to our identity as individuals and, collectively, as a species―came about and how it has manifested itself throughout the history of our species.In this profound and lyrical book, one of our most celebrated biologists offers a sweeping examination of the relationship between the humanities and the sciences: what they offer to each other, how they can be united, and where they still fall short. Both endeavours, Edward O. Wilson reveals, have their roots in human creativity―the defining trait of our species.Reflecting on the deepest origins of language, storytelling, and art, Wilson demonstrates how creativity began not ten thousand years ago, as we have long assumed, but over one hundred thousand years ago in the Paleolithic age. Chronicling this evolution of creativity from primate ancestors to humans, The Origins of Creativity shows how the humanities, spurred on by the invention of language, have played a largely unexamined role in defining our species. And in doing so, Wilson explores what we can learn about human nature from a surprising range of creative endeavors―the instinct to create gardens, the use of metaphors and irony in speech, and the power of music and song.Our achievements in science and the humanities, Wilson notes, make us uniquely advanced as a species, but also give us the potential to be supremely dangerous, most worryingly in our abuse of the planet. The humanities in particular suffer from a kind of anthropomorphism, encumbered by a belief that we are the only species among millions that seem to matter, yet Wilson optimistically reveals how researchers will have to address this parlous situation by pushing further into the realm of science, especially fields such as evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and anthropology.With eloquence and humanity, Wilson calls for a transformational “Third Enlightenment,” in which the blending of these endeavors will give us a deeper understanding of the human condition and our crucial relationship with the natural world. 6 illustrations

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Brimming with ideas . . . . The Origins of Creativity approache[s] creativity scientifically but sensitively, feeling its roots without pulling them out.” ― Economist”As always, Wilson tosses off astonishing insights with charming ease (he’s a master of the lyrically short sentence). These profoundly humane meditations on nature, creativity, and our primal yearnings will delight his longtime fans and provide newcomers with the perfect introduction to the career and ideas of one of our most distinguished living scientists―whose high school nickname, I was enchanted to learn, was ‘Snake Wilson.'” ― Jim Holt, author of Why Does the World Exist?”From our senior statesman of science comes this fascinating, eloquent, and important reflection on the vital kinship between the humanities and the sciences, the well of creativity fueling them both, and our need as a species to combine their truths to deal with today’s demanding problems. It’s a message that couldn’t be more timely.” ― Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper’s Wife”Professor Wilson has managed to stay interesting and provocative decade after decade, and this latest volume is no exception. It will make you think long and hard and fruitfully!” ― Bill McKibben, author Radio Free Vermont”Within The Origins of Creativity, E.O. Wilson returns to his most fertile―and most controversial―ideas: the role of biology within human behavior. Always forging ahead, he considers our most abstract behaviors: the apprehension of beauty and our yearning to recreate it. The grand result is a wholly new take on how even our most monumental ideas trace their origins to the organic expression of our human biology.” ― Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl”With his trademark boundless intellect and elegant writing, Wilson argues that we need both the sciences and the humanities in order to understand the deep origins of what makes us human.” ― Alan Lightman, physicist, novelist, and professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT”Wilson makes a case for blending an understanding of the sciences into the humanities in his latest work, raising provocative questions in the process.” ― Publisher’s Weekly”Luminous. . . . A concise, thoughtful exploration of how human understanding will be enhanced by ‘a humanistic science and a scientific humanities.'” ― Kirkus Reviews About the Author Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021) was the author of more than thirty books, including Anthill, Letters to a Young Scientist, and The Conquest of Nature. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson was a professor emeritus at Harvard University and lived with his wife in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The author, a well-known and respected naturalist, evolutionary biologist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and former Harvard professor, after noting that science has come to greatly exceed the humanities in popular interest and funding, argues that the two disciplines should be combined. That, he argues, would extend the reach of science and correct the alleged myopia of the humanities.The book is skillfully written and Wilson is obviously well qualified to discuss both fields of study. And while the conclusion he reaches is enticing, the path he takes to get there reflects, I believe, one of the defining fallacies of modern scientific inquiry.Dr. Wilson notes that science and philosophy co-existed on relatively equal footing during the Renaissance. Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, includes the words mathematics and philosophy in its title and set the stage for the emerging science of physics.During the modern scientific era, however, the author notes, the two fields suffered a theoretical and practical split. I’m not sure that science ultimately rejected the legitimacy of philosophy isn’t a more accurate characterization, however. It is a subtle but important distinction, I think, because Wilson does not appear to be arguing for a merger of equals. It strikes me as more of a plea for humanities to finally come into the scientific tent, accepting the modern scientific definition of knowledge and study.He notes, for example, “To summarize, the humanities suffer from the following weaknesses: they are rootless in their explanations of causation and they exist within a bubble of sensory experience.” Regarding the former, the humanities are preoccupied with the human condition and ignore both causation and the rest of nature. And humans are audiovisual-centric, which, as a biologist, Wilson says puts us in a minority within the broad spectrum of existing species.Fair enough, but this is an introductory argument. He further states: “Regardless how subtle, fleeting, and personalized human thought may be, all of it has a physical basis ultimately explainable by the scientific method.” This, in the end, is the foundational premise of the scientific era in which we live. All intelligent reason, we’ve been taught to believe, is ultimately scientific.To this he then offers the foundational premise of modern evolutionary biology: “Nothing in science and the humanities makes sense except in the light of evolution.” As the “…grand master of evolution,” moreover, Wilson argues, “It is becoming increasingly clear that natural selection has programmed every bit of human biology…”While I personally accept evolution as the reality I’m not convinced we’ve figured it all out or that evolution is so superlatively all-inclusive. The study of evolution, and much of science, for that matter, is a search for patterns. Patterns, in turn, beget patterns. And patterns, it seems to me, are a human convention, not unlike language, of which there are 6,500 in the world. Patterns exist, of course, but fall short of “truth,” I think, because they can seldom be shown to be all-inclusive in explaining complex issues like, say, the meaning of life. This pre-occupation with pattern, I believe, is the fundamental reason so much scientific discovery is ultimately shown to be false or, at least, insufficient—patterns empower precognitive conclusion.Despite my hesitation to endorse the underlying theme and purpose of this book, I have nonetheless given it a four star rating. It is masterfully composed and the topic is worthy of both our highest praise and guarded skepticism.If you accept the underlying premises, you will consider this book to be a masterpiece and a must-read. The rest of us should read it simply because it will make you think. And that is always the grand prize of spending time with books.

⭐Book is an OK read, but unrelated to the title. It’s mostly a rant about why humanities is not taken more seriously

⭐Although at times repetitive or oddly anecdotal, E O Wilson is always engaging and brilliant in his assessment of both nature and the arts. Wilson promotes the need for a fusion of scientific knowledge and humanistic inquiry as the means for a new Enlightenment. The greatest opponent of this enterprise is religion, though I might add politics as well. After being educated in a post structural age where all beauty is supposedly a cultural construct, I find Wilson’s understanding of the origins of creativity compelling. His sensitivity to how and why we respond to beauty, as products of accident and a long prehistory of evolutionary adaptation, was spot on. I even came to understand why I like my home to be on a rise of land with trees nearby and water within sight. Yes, Virginia, there is a human nature.

⭐The reason why the two star review found much of the book to be wandering is due to the fact that the unifying device is the book Human Sin or Social Sin. If one reads Wilson in this context then you can get his larger points. For instance, in chapter one he defines creativity in the standard modernist fashion but ultimately dismissed it as “absurd.” Now the book Human Sin or Social Sin describes how modern art is ritual absurdity to subvert the beauty and greatness of the classical tradition. A psych prof with a PhD from Cambridge agreed with this assessment of how to read Wilson. The Wilson is really a form of peer review for Human Sin or Social Sin.

⭐There is so much insight and vision bundled into one single book. Highly recommended. Thank you for your extensive and perceptive work.

⭐Edward O. Wilson, is an Author, everyone should have a copy, any copy,in any subject to read, His books enrich your consious, in any question any subject, it makes you proude being human, more than often, corrects your steps into Life. Check the list of his great work. Great books to read and give away as gifts to any age. They will love to have them. In all honesty, I start read his work some 12 years ago, I am in my 80s.Michos Tzovaras

⭐…despite an unfortunate editorial oversight on page 50:Joseph Conrad is quoted as having written: “…that mysterious, almost miraculous, power of producing striking effects by means of detection, which is the last word of the highest art.”The quote will be accurate (and make sense!) if the word “impossible” is returned to its original home between “means” and “of.”

⭐Wilson began exploring the boundary between the sciences and humanities twenty years ago. If you found Consilience, his first book on the subject, intriguing, The Origins of Creativity will be striking and satisfying. Two decades of deep thinking by one of the most consequential scientists of our time has produced a beautifully written conclusive statement about the possibilities accessible to human thought, as well as the new questions we should be asking.

⭐EO Wilson has spent his life (after discovering dozens of ants and developing evolutionary biology in the 1960’s and 1970’s) writing about consilience- the bringing together of science and the humanities. If you’ve read his other books on the subject – and I have – you’ll see this one as part of that effort. As such, it is very good, full of the usual insights and charming writing style we have come to love.But Wilson is now ancient, nearly 90, and his ferocious grasp on his subject is beginning to get a bit repetitive and rambling. This is really a longish essay, not a proper Wilson book, but it does succeed in summing up his basic thinking. You can only understand human beings if you understand that we are clever monkeys who have evolved from more primitive ancestors. As the humanities studies the why of humanity without understanding the what that science provides, they fall disastrously short. The need to integrate humanities (the why) with science (the what when and how) is pressing and beginning to take shape. The fact that so many people are unaware of this, and prefer the absurdity of religion vexes the great man. Wilson doesn’t mind spiritual religion but he rejects specialist creation theories which mean only one is right. He is the apostle of reason in every sense, with a twinkly humanity to everything he touches.So this is not the place to start reading Wilson – Sociobiology and Consilience are. Try Origins, another excellent late Wilson book. He is one of our greatest thinkers and he will be missed. But he has left a legacy of discover and insight almost unmatched among public intellectuals and hard scientists.

⭐Incredible… very informed and informative writer.

⭐J’ai trouvé ce livre décevant (édition en anglais). Je pensais trouver une réflexion sur la créativité d’un point de vue biologique mais le livre est plein de digressions sur les humanités, sur la passion de l’auteur pour les insectes et la nature et autres, ce qui n’est pas inintéressant mais hors sujet à mon avis. Un certain nombre de chapitres, 12 par exemple, reviennent à la biologie per se, mais je reste sur ma faim quand même.

⭐Not found.

⭐A beautiful and lyrically written view of humans and the humanities as they relate to the source of creativity!

⭐Wilson grows more brilliant with each volume. This is truly wonderful philosophical speculation.

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