Constitutive and depictive creativities in philosophy and critical thinking

Abstract

This paper expounds two types of creativities in philosophy while exploring several influential philosophical views and thought experiments. The two types of creativities include constitutive creativity and depictive creativity. Constitutive creativity refers to the capabilities required for constructing theoretical equipment or tools needed to constitute the core of a given philosophical thought. It can be assessed in terms of the appropriateness of the theoretical apparatuses used in the target idea. The embodiment of constitutive creativity is often coupled with depictive creativity. Depictive creativity refers to the abilities to cite striking examples or build narratives that support the issue at hand. The assessment of depictive creativity depends on the ingenuity of the examples or stories insofar as they positively contribute to the establishment of the desired conclusion. While elucidating the notions of constitutive and depictive creativities by examining several examples in the literature of philosophy, I highlight that critical thinking operates as the cornerstone on top of which both types of creativities may be built.