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''The Act of Creation'' is a 1964 book by Arthur Koestler. It is a study of the processes of discovery, invention, imagination and creativity in humour, science, and the arts. It lays out Koestler's attempt to develop an elaborate general theory of human creativity. From describing and comparing many different examples of invention and discovery, Koestler concludes that they all share a common pattern which he terms "bisociation" – a blending of elements drawn from two previously unrelated matrices of thought into a new matrix of meaning by way of a process involving comparison, abstraction and categorisation, analogies and metaphors. He regards many different mental phenomena based on comparison (such as analogies, metaphors, parables, allegories, jokes, identification, role-playing, acting, personification, anthropomorphism etc.), as special cases of "bisociation". The concept of bisociation has been adopted, generalised and formalised by cognitive linguists Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner, who developed it into conceptual blending theory.〔Mark Turner, Gilles Fauconnier: The Way We Think. Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books 2002 (), p. 37〕 ==Book One: The Art of Discovery and the Discoveries of Art== ''The Act of Creation'' is divided into two books. In the first book, Koestler proposes a global theory of creative activity encompassing humour, scientific inquiry, and art. Koestler's fundamental idea is that any creative act is a ''bisociation'' (not mere association) of two (or more) apparently incompatible frames of thought.〔Krikmann, Arvo (2006) Contemporary linguistic theories of humour, Folklore 33, 27–57: 29.〕 Employing a spatial metaphor, Koestler calls such frames of thought ''matrices'': "any ability, habit, or skill, any pattern of ordered behaviour governed by a 'code' of fixed rules."〔Koestler, Arthur. 1964. ''The Act of Creation'', p38. Penguin Books, New York.〕 Koestler argues that the diverse forms of human creativity all correspond to variations of his model of bisociation. In jokes and humour, the audience is led to expect a certain outcome compatible with a particular matrix (e.g. the narrative storyline); a punch line, however, replaces the original matrix with an alternative to comic effect. The structure of a joke, then, is essentially that of bait-and-switch. In scientific inquiry, the two matrices are fused into a new larger synthesis.〔(Figure 2 ) in Terrence Deacon: ''The Aesthetic Faculty.'' In: Mark Turner (Ed.): ''The Artful Mind: Cognitive Science and the Riddle of Human Creativity.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2006〕 The recognition that two previously disconnected matrices are compatible generates the experience of eureka. Finally, in the arts and in ritual, the two matrices are held in juxtaposition to one another. Observing art is a process of experiencing this juxtaposition, with both matrices sustained. According to Koestler, many bisociative creative breakthroughs occur after a period of intense conscious effort directed at the creative goal or problem, in a period of relaxation when rational thought is abandoned, like during dreams and trances.〔The New York Times: ''(The Genesis of Genius; The Act of Creation ).'' 18 October 1964〕 Koestler affirms that all creatures have the capacity for creative activity, frequently suppressed by the automatic routines of thought and behaviour that dominate their lives. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Act of Creation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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