Arthur Koestler - The Act of Creation (Arkana)

PENGUINARKANAThe Act of CreationArthur Koestler alternated all his life between the man of action andthe man of letters. Born in Budapest in 1905, he studied at ViennaUniversity before becoming a journalist. As a foreign correspondent hetravelled widely, visiting the Middle East, Paris and Moscow. In 1937,while representing the "News Chronicle" in Spain, he was captured byFranco's troops and imprisoned under sentence of death. He was eventuallyreleased on the intervention of the British Government and returned toLondon. During the war he served with the French Foreign Legion andthe British Army and in 1945 became Special Correspondent for TheTimes in Palestine. In the 1940s and early 1950s he was perhaps themost widely read political novelist of our time. Darkness at Noon,considered to be his masterpiece, was published in 1940, followed byArrival and Departure (1943), Thieves in the Night (1946), TheAge of Longing (1951) and The Call Girls (1972). From 1956 he becameimmersed in questions of science and mysticism, and had a huge followingamong young people. Explaining his varied interests, Koestler wrote:'Out of my quarrels with the human condition I made my novels; theother books are attempts to analyse that same condition in scientificterms. In my more optimistic moments it seems to me that the two addup to a whole. At any rate, without both media I would feel only halfalive.' The Act of Creation (1964) is the second book in his classictrilogy on the mind of man, which began with The Sleepwalkers (1959)and ended with The Ghost in the Machine (1967). Among his other booksare The Yogi and the Commissar (1945), The Case of the Midwife Toad(1971) and Bricks to Babel, a collection of non-fiction essays.Koestler received the Sonning Prize from the University of Copenhagen in1968 and was awarded a number of honorary doctorates. He was a Fellowof both the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal AstronomicalSociety. He was made a CBE in 1972 and a Companion of Literature in 1974,and on three occasions was nominated for the Nobel Prize. Arthur Koestlerdied in 1983. The Times obituary called him 'a consistently lucid andhumane writer... His reputation as one of the most versatile andprotean writers of our century is thoroughly deserved.'ARTHUR KOESTLERThe Act of CreationARKANAPENGUIN BOOKSARKANAPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, EnglandPenguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USAPenguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, AustraliaPenguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 102902, NSMC, Aukland, New ZealandPenguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, EnglandFirst published by Hutchinson & Co. 1964Published by Arkana 1989Copyright Arthur Koestler, 1964All rights reservedPrinted in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plcExcept in the United States of America, this book is sold subjectto the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher'sprior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that inwhich it is published and without a similar condition including thiscondition being imposed on the subsequent purchaserCONTENTSBOOK ONETHE ART OF DISCOVERYAND THE DISCOVERIES OF ART*PART ONETHE JESTERI THE LOGIC OF LAUGHTER 27The Triptych -- The Laughter Reflex -- The Paradox of Laughter --The Logic of Laughter: A First Approach --Matrices and Codes -- Hidden Persuaders --Habit and Originality -- Man and MachineII LAUGHTER AND EMOTION 51Aggression and Identification -- The Inertia of Emotion --The Mechanism of Laughter -- The Importance of not being EarnestIII VARIETIES OF HUMOUR 64Pun and Witticism -- Man and Animal -- Impersonation --The Child-Adult -- The Trivial and the Exalted --Caricature and Satire -- The Misfit --The Paradox of the Centipede -- Displacement --Coincidence -- Nonsense -- Tickling -- The Clown --Originality, Emphasis, EconomyIV FROM HUMOUR TO DISCOVERY 87Explosion and Catharsis -- 'Seeing the Joke' and 'Solving the Problem-- The Creation of Humour -- Paradox and Synthesis -- SummaryPART TWOTHE SAGEV MOMENTS OF TRUTH 101The Chimpanzee and the Stick -- Archimedes --Chance and Ripeness -- Logic and Intuition -- SummaryVI THREE ILLUSTRATIONS 1211. The Printing press --2. Gravity and the Holy Ghost --3. Evolution through Natural SelectionVII THINKING ASIDE 145Limits of Logic -- The Unconscious before Freud --The Mechanization of Habits -- Exploring the Shallows --The 'Hooked Atoms of Thought' -- Exploring the Deeps --The Word and the Vision -- The Snares of LanguageVIII UNDERGROUND GAMES 178The Importance of Dreaming -- Concretization and Symbolization --Punning for Profit--The Benefits of Impersonation --Displacement -- Standing on One's Head -- Analogy and Intuition --SummaryIX THE SPARK AND THE FLAME 212False Inspirations -- Premature Linkages -- Snowblindness --Gradual Integrations -- The Dawn of Language --SummaryX THE EVOLUTION OF IDEAS 224Separations and Reintegrations -- Twenty-six Centuries of Science --Creative Anarchy -- 'Connect, Always Connect' -- The Thinking Cap --The Pathology of Thought -- Limits of Confirmation --Fashions in Science -- Boundaries of Science --SummaryXI SCIENCE AND EMOTION 255Three Character-Types -- Magic and Sublimation --The Boredom of Science --SummaryPART THREETHE ARTISTA. THE PARTICIPATORY EMOTIONSXII THE LOGIC OF THE MOIST EYE 271Laughter and Weeping -- Why do we Weep? -- Raptness -- Mourning --Relief -- Pity -- Self-Pity -- SummaryXIII PARTNESS AND WHOLENESSStepchildren of Psychology -- The Concept of Hierarchy 285XIV ON ISLANDS AND WATERWAYS 292B. VERBAL CREATIONXV ILLUSION 301The Power of Illusion -- The Value of Illusion --The Dynamics of Illusion -- Escape and Catharsis --Identification and Magic -- The Dawn of LiteratureXVI RHYTHM AND RHYME 311Pulsation -- Measure and Meaning -- Repetition and Affinity --Compulsive Punning -- Coaxing the UnconsciousXVII IMAGE 320The Hidden Analogy -- Emotive Potentials -- The Picture-strip --On Law and Order -- On Truth and BeautyXVIII INFOLDING 333Originality and Emphasis -- Economy -- The Last Veil --SummaryXIX CHARACTER AND PLOT 345Identification -- Phantoms and Images -- Conflict --Integrations and Confrontations -- Archetypes -- Cataloguing Plots --Puppets and StringsXX THE BELLY OF THE WHALE 358The Night Journey -- The Guilt of Jonah -- The Root and the Flower --The TightropeC. VISUAL CREATIONXXI MOTIF AND MEDIUM 366Looking at Nature -- Pigment and Meaning -- The Two Environments --Visual Inferences -- Codes of Perception -- Convention and CreationXXII IMAGE AND EMOTION 383Virtues of the Picture Postcard -- Taste and Distastep --Motion and Rest -- Ascending Gradients --SummaryXXIII ART AND PROGRESS 393Cumulative Periods -- Stagnation and Cross-Fertilization --Statement and ImplicationXXIV CONFUSION AND STERILITY 400The Aesthetics of Snobbery -- The Personal Emanation --The Antiquarian Fallacy -- The Comforts of SterilityBOOK TWOHABIT AND ORIGINALITY*Introduction 413I PRENATAL SKILLS 415Structure and Function -- The Cell-Matrix --Nucleus and Cytoplasm -- Regulative and Mosaic Development --Organizers and Inducers --SummaryII THE UBIQUITOUS HIERARCHY 430Development of the Nervous System -- Locomotor Hierarchies --The Goldfish and the Crab -- Shuffling the Salamander's Limbs --Limits of ControlIII DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AND REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL 447Acting and Reacting -- What is Equilibrium? --Super-Elasticity and Regenerative Span -- Physiological IsolationIV RECULER POUR MIEUX SAUTER 454Structural Regenerations -- Reversed Gradients --The Dangers of Regression -- 'Routine Regenerations' --Reorganizations of Function -- Reculer sans Sauter --Regeneration and Psychotherapy -- The Routine of Dreaming --Regeneration and Creativity -- Regeneration and EvolutionV PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION 467VI CODES OF INSTINCT BEHAVIOUR 475The Genetics of Behaviour -- Instinct and Learning --Tinbergen's Hierarchy --Appetitive Behaviour and Consummatory Act --Leerlauf and Displacement -- Instinct and OriginalityVII IMPRINTING AND IMITATION 489The 'Following-response' -- Bird-song and Parrot-talk --Untapped ResourcesVIII MOTIVATION 495Retrospect -- Decline of the Reflex --Hunger, Fear, and Curiosity -- The Exploratory DriveIX PLAYING AND PRETENDING 509Difficulties of Definition--The Ludic and the LudicrousX PERCEPTION AND MEMORY 513Screening the Input -- Stripping the Input --Dismantling and Reassembling -- 'Coloured Filters' --A Digression on Engrams -- Tracing a Melody --Conditioning and Insight in Perception --Abstract and Picture-strip -- Learning to See --Knowing and Seeing -- Levels of Memory -- Image and Meaning --Klangbild and Wortschatz -- Perceptual and Conceptual Abstraction --Generalization, Discrimination, and Association --Recognition and Recall --SummaryXI MOTOR SKILLS 544Learning Hierarchies --Summary: Rigidity and FreedomXII THE PITFALLS OF LEARNING THEORY 556A Glance in Retrospect -- The Denial of Creativity --The Advent of Gestalt -- Conditioning and Empirical Induction --Do Insects have Insight? -- The Controversial Rat --The Cat in the BoxXIII THE PITFALLS OF GESTALT 573More about Chimpanzees -- Uniform Factors in Learning --Criteria of Insight Learning -- Preconditions of Insight --The Ambiguities of Gestalt -- Putting Two and Two TogetherXIV LEARNING TO SPEAK 592Intending and Saying -- The Dawn of Symbol Consciousness --Concepts and Labels -- Ideation and VerbalizationXV LEARNING TO THINK 606Abstraction, Discrimination, and Transfer --The Magic of Names -- The Rise of Causality --Explaining and Understanding -- The Dawn of Mathematics --The Dawn of LogicsXVI SOME ASPECTS OF THINKING 630Multi-dimensionality -- The Experience of Free Choice --Degrees of Self-Awareness -- Master-Switches and Releasers --Explicit Rules and Implicit Codes -- Matrix CategoriesXVII ASSOCIATION 642Multiple Attunements -- Types of AssociationXVIII HABIT AND ORIGINALITY 649Bridging the Gap -- Searching for a Code --Degrees of Originality -- Association and BisociationAPPENDIX ION LOADSTONES AND AMBER 661APPENDIX IISOME FEATURES 0F GENIUS 6741. THE SENSE OF WONDER 674Aristotle on Motivation -- The Leaders of the Revolution --Newton, Monster and Saint -- The Mysticism of Franklin --The Fundamentalism of Faraday -- The Metaphysics of Maxwell --The Atheism of Darwin -- The Faith of Pasteur2. INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE 703Precociousness -- Scepticism and Credulity --Abstraction and Practicality -- Multiple PotentialsReferences 709Works Mentioned in this Book 717Acknowledgements 729Index 731