Abstract
dc:description.abstractCreativity, as the production of creative products, intuitively requires both intention and novelty. However, these two elements seem to stand in tension: if a product is novel to the creator, it appears they could not have intended it, and if they intended it, it seems it cannot be novel to them. This paper explores and dissolves this apparent tension. I begin by discussing the necessity of both intention and novelty for creativity. I then critique Antonia Peacocke's refinement model of creativity, which seeks to reconcile the requirements of intention and novelty through the concept of a proto-work. I argue that there are creative products that the refinement model fails to recognize as such, including those that result from open-ended creative processes. In response, I propose a programming theory of creativity, which distinguishes between broad planning intentions and more specific implementation intentions. On this view, creative products emerge when planning intentions probabilistically constrain implementation intentions, allowing for novelty within an intentional framework. This model captures a wider range of creative phenomena—such as exploratory research and improvisational art—while preserving the intuitive roles of both intention and novelty in creativity.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Arts
- Level thesis:degree_level
- masters
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Philosophy
- Department dc:contributor.department
- Philosophy
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Virginia Tech
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2025
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Allen, James Nathan
- Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
-
- Parker, Wendy
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Horn, Justin Michael
- Corredor, Mercedes Maria
- Trogdon, Kelly Griffith
Subjects
dc:subject × 6Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- In Copyright
- Licence dc:rights.uri
- Language dc:language.iso
- en
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Dc Identifier Other
- vt_gsexam:43671
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/132198