Combinatorial Creativity and Its Constraints: Why the Combinatorial Explosion Threatens Not

Dean Keith Simonton

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Chapter 10 Combinatorial Creativity and Its Constraints

Why the Combinatorial Explosion Threatens Not

In: Constraints in Creativity

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Dean Keith Simonton

Dean Keith Simonton
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 182–195

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004707238_011

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Abstract

Although it is often argued that creativity depends on combinatorial processes and procedures, one objection to the argument is that creativity would then have to confront the problem called the “combinatorial explosion.” In simple terms, the number of combinations that can be generated by a set of ideas grows exponentially with the number of ideas that the set contains. However, this possibility becomes far less problematic in actual human creativity because of implicit and explicit constraints that are inevitably imposed on the creative individual. Moreover, theory and evidence suggests that any combinatorial surplus (combinations as yet unexamined) often carries over to the sociocultural level, especially in the form of intellectual schools and aesthetic styles. The latter can yield Golden Ages of sociocultural creativity. Eventually, however, combinatorial depletion sets in, with repercussions for future creativity. Yet this depletion is not inexorable.

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Constraints in Creativity

Series: Advances in Creativity and Giftedness, Volume: 13

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004707238

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 05 Aug 2024

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- Education
  - Educational Theory
  - Learning

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Chapter 10 Combinatorial Creativity and Its Constraints

Why the Combinatorial Explosion Threatens Not

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Constraints in Creativity

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