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Creativity, Psychology, and the History of Science offers for the first time a comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of Howard E. Gruber, who is noted for his contributions both to the psychology of creativity and to the history of science. Gruber is a pioneer in combining history of science and cognitive psychology by means of detailed and meticulous case studies. His award-winning books 'Darwin on man' and 'The essential Piaget' are both modern classics. The present book includes papers from a wide range of topics. In the contributions to creativity research, Gruber proposes his key ideas for studying creative work. Gruber focuses on how the thinking, motivation and affect of extraordinarily creative individuals evolve and how they interact over long periods of time. Gruber?s approach bridges many disciplines and subdisciplines in psychology and beyond, several of which are represented in the present volume: cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, history of science, aesthetics, and politics. The volume thus presents a unique and comprehensive contribution to our understanding of the creative process. Many of Gruber's papers have not previously been easily accessible; they are presented here in thoroughly revised form. The book is for psychologists, historians and philosophers of science interested in the intersection of psychology and the history of science.
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Creativity, Psychology and the History of Science BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editors ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University JÜRGEN RENN, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University of Athens Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRÜNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY†, (Editor 1960–1997) VOLUME 245 CREATIVITY, PSYCHOLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE Edited by Howard E. Gruber† Columbia University, New York, NY, U.S.A. and Katja Bödeker Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 ISBN-10 ISBN-13 ISBN-13 1-4020-3491-1 (HB) 1-4020-3509-8 (e-book) 978-1-4020-3491-6 (HB) 978-1-4020-3509-8 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springeronline.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2005 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. TABLE OF CONTENTS vii P REFACE by J ürgen Renn INTRODUCTION by Katja Bödeker 1 A LIFE WITH A PURPOSE 19 THE CREATIVE PERSON AS A WHOLE THE EVOLVING SYSTEMS APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CREATIVE WORK 35 The Case Study Method and Evolving Systems Approach for Understanding Unique Creative People at Work 39 Inching Our Way up Mount Olympus: The Evolving-Systems Approach to Creative Thinking 65 Networks of Enterprise in Creative Scientific Work 89 THE CASE STUDY THAT STARTED IT ALL: CHARLES DARWIN 105 The Eye of Reason: Darwin’s Development during the Beagle Voyage 109 The Emergence of a Sense of Purpose: A Cognitive Case Study of Young Darwin 123 Going the Limit: Toward the Construction of Darwin’s Theory (1832-1839)