Just like there are three forms of human love, Eros (sexual love),
Filio (brotherly love), and Agape (divine love), I remember reading
that there are three forms of Creativity (might also have a greek
origin).  I remember it went something like this:  1) creating from
what exists, 2) creating from nothing, 3) etc.

I would like to know what the 3 are (might be more or less than
three), and where to
read up more on it (web link, book(s), origin, etc.)

Hello and thanks for the interesting question.

I believe you are thinking of the three kinds of creator or artist
described in Plato's "Republic": God, the craftsman and the painter.

According to this system, God would be equivalent to your "creating
from nothing", the craftsman - a carpenter in his example - is
"creating from what exists" and the third artist is the painter who,
as a mere imitator, is not classified as a true creator. (A very
controversial view in our culture, I think!)

Plato used beds to illustrate his point: the concept of a bed
originating from God, an actual bed made by a carpenter and a
representation, or imitation, of a bed painted by an artist.

"Well then, here are three beds: one existing in nature, which is made
by God, as I think that we may say --for no one else can be the maker?
No.
There is another which is the work of the carpenter?
Yes.
And the work of the painter is a third?
Yes.
Beds, then, are of three kinds, and there are three artists who
superintend them: God, the maker of the bed, and the painter?

Yes, there are three of them.
God, whether from choice or from necessity, made one bed in nature and
one only; two or more such ideal beds neither ever have been nor ever
will be made by God.
Why is that?
Because even if He had made but two, a third would still appear behind
them which both of them would have for their idea, and that would be
the ideal bed and the two others.
Very true, he said.
God knew this, and He desired to be the real maker of a real bed, not
a particular maker of a particular bed, and therefore He created a bed
which is essentially and by nature one only.

So we believe.
Shall we, then, speak of Him as the natural author or maker of the
bed?
Yes, he replied; inasmuch as by the natural process of creation He is
the author of this and of all other things.
And what shall we say of the carpenter --is not he also the maker of
the bed?
Yes.
But would you call the painter a creator and maker?
Certainly not.
Yet if he is not the maker, what is he in relation to the bed?
I think, he said, that we may fairly designate him as the imitator of
that which the others make."

"THE REPUBLIC", by Plato
translated by Benjamin Jowett
(as posted on the Internet Classics Archive at MIT) 
BOOK X: 595a - 608b
[sections 10, 11 and 12]
"(Note: speeches in the dialogue have been numbered simply in order to
permit easy reference in class discussion. They are not part of the
original text and they do not mark distinctions of content. )"
http://www.msu.org/intro/content_intro/texts/plato/republic5.html#comm20


You might be interested in these comments combined with direct
quotations from Plato:

"Plato on Imitation"
Republic 595c-608b
Prof. Eric Steinhart
http://www.wpunj.edu/cohss/philosophy/courses/phil399/PLATO.HTM

You'll quite often find this discussed as the "three beds" idea. If
you're interested in more commentary, you should find it amongst these
search results:
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=plato++%22three+beds%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

There are, of course, many translations and commentaries on the
"Republic" in libraries and bookstores. I haven't found anything
specifically about this concept of three kinds of art/creativity but
here's one introduction to Plato's philosophy which has sections on
art and imitation.

An Introduction to Plato's Republic, by Julia Annas. OUP (1981)
(See the 'look inside' feature and click on 'index'.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0198274297/qid=1048855882/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/104-4837228-6150320?v=glance&s=books



I hope this is helpful. Please ask if anything needs clarification,
and I'll do my best.


Leli



search strategy

I had a feeling it was Plato and started with:

Plato "three kinds"
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=plato+%22three+kinds%22+&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

My next search was:
Plato "three kinds" bed artists Republic
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=plato+%22three+kinds%22++bed+artists+republic&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

---

Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 28 Mar 2003 05:16 PST

I meant to include another suggestion for further reading. If you
search using 'Plato' and 'imitation' you will find discussions of his
theory, including comparisons with Aristotle, Wordsworth, Dr. Johnson
and more:
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=plato+imitation&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Leli

---

Request for Answer Clarification by windandrain-ga on 28 Mar 2003 06:55 PST

Did you find any reference to any latin terms that were associated
with these types of creativity?  Also when I originally said
creativity I also meant to include the concept of three types of
creation.

I believe this answer is definitely on the right track, I just feel
like there may be one reference missing that I can't put my finger on.
 Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 28 Mar 2003 09:09 PST

Thanks for getting back to me.

I'm sorry my answer doesn't quite match your sense of what you're
after. At first glance, Plato's categories of artist seem to match
your requirements quite well:  "creating from nothing", "creating from
what exists" and so on.

Broadening this out to look at creation too, I imagine what you are
remembering derives from either Plato or Aristotle; but of course they
have been so influential that their ideas, with slight variations,
turn up all over the place.

Aristotle was inspired by Plato, his teacher, but developed his own
philosophy too. They were both rather inclined to put things into
categories, especially three kinds of this or that, and naturally both
thinkers discussed topics with a huge scope. Creation is inevitably
mentioned in various different contexts.

When Aristotle discussed change, he was commenting on the process of
creation/creativity:

"According to Aristotle every change involves three factors: (1) a
feature or form that exists as a result of change; (2) the earlier
absence of this form; and (3) the matter that was always there but
which, as a result of the change, is now characterized by the form in
question. In the case of a statue the three factors are the form of
the statue; its previous lack of form; and the material from which it
was made."
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:XPeF5MP13MgC:chemistry.mtu.edu/PAGES/HISTORY/aristotle.html++aristotle+three+substance+OR+substances&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

He also had a view of the cosmos and creation which divided the
universe into three 'substances':

"Within the universe there are three kinds of substance: 1) that which
is sensible and perishable (plants and animals), 2) that which is
sensible but not perishable (heavenly bodies), and 3) that which is
neither sensible nor perishable (the rational soul in man and in
God)--and is thus 'eternal.'"
http://www.newgenevacenter.org/biography/aristotle2.htm#departure

Both philosophers' ideas have been discussed by hundreds of people
over the centuries and each individual scholar has put his own shade
of meaning on the metaphysics, theology, aesthetic theory etc. It may
be that you have read something that tied Plato's ideas about artists
into some broader view of creation, or perhaps something analyzing
Aristotle's thoughts on creation.

I don't know of, nor have I been able to find, any well-known
threesome of Greek or Latin words describing different kinds of
creativity. It seems possible that one particular commentator might
have devised a set of three words to help with interpreting Plato's
and/or Aristotle's texts.

Hoping this helps, I wish you good luck with your studies.
If you want a good online source of classical texts translated into
English, try the Perseus project:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html#text1
They include Plato's "Timaeus", sometimes called his "creation story".


Regards - Leli

Very Very helpful and Very Very quick.  The researchers knowledge of
the field was impeccable.  I am very satisfied.  Google you've done it
again!

Hello Windandrain,

These are the concepts I found during research (none of them seems to
closely enough match what you describe):

Food for Thought
http://www.rosslynhillchapel.com/bulletin/2001/june/food.htm
"Arthur Koestler was a Hungarian philosopher, thinker and writer and
made a great contribution to thinking about the human condition in
general and creativity in particular. (...)
He uses this idea in a description of 3 types of creativity, humour,
science and art. All these forms of creativity work by bringing
together disparate elements in to a fusion but they differ in how they
do this, in the basic underlying motivations and in the resulting
emotional impacts that each type of creativity causes."

Zen Master Suzuki Roshi
http://www.9types.com/wwwboard/messages/12299.html
"Zen Master Suzuki Roshi writes about three types of creativity,
associated with three levels of the creative process. The following
description begins at the most fundamental level, when the world is
created anew each time that we arise from meditation:

When we emerge from nothing, when everything emerges from nothing, we
see it all as a fresh new creation. This is non-attachment. The second
kind of creation is when you act, or produce or prepare something like
food or tea. The third kind is to create something within yourself,
such as an education, or culture, or art, or some system for our
society. So there are three kinds of
creation. But if you forget the first, the most important one, the
other two will be like children who have lost their parents; their
creation will mean nothing."

Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship [PPT]
http://216.103.196.3/mgmt10/chp06t.ppt
"The three  types of creativity are
a.  modification - is the act of altering and improving an existing
product or service.
b.  synthesis is the act of merging or combining two existing products
or services.
c.  creation is the act of creating something from nothing"

Vertical creativity in a post-informational age [PDF]
http://www.ssgrr.it/en/ssgrr2001/papers/Jules%20de%20Waart.pdf
"Combining the views of De Bono, Margaret Boden, Ken Wilber and my own
suggestion I want to propose here three forms of creativity.

1. Form 1-type creativitydepends on opening up the subconscious for
specific purposes. Best known example of this form of creativity is
the catharsis and subsequent healing as shown in some psychoanalytic
treatments. The methods involved, can be adapted and used for creative
problem solving. The concept is especially useful for problem finding
and problem definition when dealing with problems that cause emotional
barriers for the problem owners.

2. Form 2-type creativitydoes not involve or require any change in the
state of consciousness. Quantitatively this is by far the most
important domain. P-creativity is the normal type here but
H-creativity is theoretically possible. Lateral thinking, as described
by De Bono is the dominant way to arrive at new ideas. The field is
broad and ranges from simple forms of brainstorming to systematic
rule-breaking and rule-bending when necessary. Flow as described by
Csikszentmihalyi can occur.

3. Form 3-type creativityis a result of peak experiences as described
by Wilber and Maslov. More often than not H-creativity is involved,
and the word genius comes to mind here. This type of creativity does
not come cheap. It requires a tremendous motivational commitment, very
hard work, and maybe some inborn factors that we don't know about.
These factors are not supernatural, but some hidden versions of
mechanisms we probably all share, but do not yet know to use
efficiently."

Breakthrough Thinking: Creating an Environment for Fostering
Creativity [PPT]
http://www.pmi.org/chapters/swohio/Mulvanity.ppt
"At least three different forms of creativity: the artistic. the
inventive. the problem-solving."

Enhancing Our Human Capital for the New Economy Through Arts, Culture,
Sports and Recreation [PDF]
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/parliament/erc/humancapital.pdf
"There are three types of creativity: technological creativity, which
is innovation, new productsand ideas and technologies; economic
creativity, which includes entrepreneurship turning thosethings into
new businesses and new industries; and cultural and artistic
creativity, the ability toinvent new ways of thinking about things,
new art forms, new designs, new photos, new concepts. Those three
things have to come together to spur economic growth. -- Richard
Florida"


Hope it helps!


Search terms:
"3 forms of creativity"
"3 types of creativity"
"three forms of creativity"
"three types of creativity"
"three different types of creativity"
(...)

I really believe there is a Greek origin to the concept, even possibly
three Latin words which express each form of creativity - similiar to
the Eros / Filio / Agape love trilogy like I mentioned previous.

None of the current searches you came up with are it.  Thanks anyway.

Many thanks for the kind words and rating. I'm glad you found the answer helpful.

Leli