The Act of Creation

THE ACT OF CREATION
by
Arthur Koestler

PENGUIN
ARKANA
The Act of Creation
Arthur Koestler alternated all his life between the man of action and
the man of letters. Born in Budapest in 1905, he studied at Vienna
University before becoming a journalist. As a foreign correspondent he
travelled widely, visiting the Middle East, Paris and Moscow. In 1937,
while representing the "News Chronicle" in Spain, he was captured by
Franco's troops and imprisoned under sentence of death. He was eventually
released on the intervention of the British Government and returned to
London. During the war he served with the French Foreign Legion and
the British Army and in 1945 became Special Correspondent for The
Times in Palestine. In the 1940s and early 1950s he was perhaps the
most widely read political novelist of our time. Darkness at Noon,
considered to be his masterpiece, was published in 1940, followed by
Arrival and Departure (1943), Thieves in the Night (1946), The
Age of Longing (1951) and The Call Girls (1972). From 1956 he became
immersed in questions of science and mysticism, and had a huge following
among young people. Explaining his varied interests, Koestler wrote:
'Out of my quarrels with the human condition I made my novels; the
other books are attempts to analyse that same condition in scientific
terms. In my more optimistic moments it seems to me that the two add
up to a whole. At any rate, without both media I would feel only half
alive.' The Act of Creation (1964) is the second book in his classic
trilogy on the mind of man, which began with The Sleepwalkers (1959)
and ended with The Ghost in the Machine (1967). Among his other books
are 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 in
1968 and was awarded a number of honorary doctorates. He was a Fellow
of both the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Astronomical
Society. 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 Koestler
died in 1983. The Times obituary called him 'a consistently lucid and
humane writer . . . His reputation as one of the most versatile and
protean writers of our century is thoroughly deserved.'
ARTHUR KOESTLER
The Act of Creation
ARKANA
PENGUIN BOOKS
ARKANA
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 102902, NSMC, Aukland, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
First published by Hutchinson & Co. 1964
Published by Arkana 1989
Copyright © Arthur Koestler, 1964
All rights reserved
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
CONTENTS
BOOK ONE
THE ART OF DISCOVERY
AND THE DISCOVERIES OF ART
*
PART ONE
THE JESTER
I     THE LOGIC OF LAUGHTER                                            27
The 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 Machine
II    LAUGHTER AND EMOTION                                             51
Aggression and Identification -- The Inertia of Emotion --
The Mechanism of Laughter -- The Importance of not being Earnest
III   VARIETIES OF HUMOUR                                              64
Pun 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, Economy
IV    FROM HUMOUR TO DISCOVERY                                         87
Explosion and Catharsis -- 'Seeing the Joke' and 'Solving the Problem
-- The Creation of Humour -- Paradox and Synthesis -- Summary
PART TWO
THE SAGE
V     MOMENTS OF TRUTH                                                101
The Chimpanzee and the Stick -- Archimedes --
Chance and Ripeness -- Logic and Intuition -- Summary
VI    THREE ILLUSTRATIONS                                             121
1. The Printing press --
2. Gravity and the Holy Ghost --
3. Evolution through Natural Selection
VII   THINKING ASIDE                                                  145
Limits 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 Language
VIII  UNDERGROUND GAMES                                               178
The Importance of Dreaming -- Concretization and Symbolization --
Punning for Profit--The Benefits of Impersonation --
Displacement -- Standing on One's Head -- Analogy and Intuition --
Summary
IX    THE SPARK AND THE FLAME                                         212
False Inspirations -- Premature Linkages -- Snowblindness --
Gradual Integrations -- The Dawn of Language --
Summary
X     THE EVOLUTION OF IDEAS                                          224
Separations 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 --
Summary
XI    SCIENCE AND EMOTION                                             255
Three Character-Types -- Magic and Sublimation --
The Boredom of Science --
Summary
PART THREE
THE ARTIST
A. THE PARTICIPATORY EMOTIONS
XII   THE LOGIC OF THE MOIST EYE                                      271
Laughter and Weeping -- Why do we Weep? -- Raptness -- Mourning --
Relief -- Pity -- Self-Pity -- Summary
XIII  PARTNESS AND WHOLENESS
Stepchildren of Psychology -- The Concept of Hierarchy                285
XIV   ON ISLANDS AND WATERWAYS                                        292
B. VERBAL CREATION
XV    ILLUSION                                                        301
The Power of Illusion -- The Value of Illusion --
The Dynamics of Illusion -- Escape and Catharsis --
Identification and Magic -- The Dawn of Literature
XVI   RHYTHM AND RHYME                                                311
Pulsation -- Measure and Meaning -- Repetition and Affinity --
Compulsive Punning -- Coaxing the Unconscious
XVII  IMAGE                                                           320
The Hidden Analogy -- Emotive Potentials -- The Picture-strip --
On Law and Order -- On Truth and Beauty
XVIII INFOLDING                                                       333
Originality and Emphasis -- Economy -- The Last Veil --
Summary
XIX   CHARACTER AND PLOT                                              345
Identification -- Phantoms and Images -- Conflict --
Integrations and Confrontations -- Archetypes -- Cataloguing Plots --
Puppets and Strings
XX    THE BELLY OF THE WHALE                                          358
The Night Journey -- The Guilt of Jonah -- The Root and the Flower --
The Tightrope
C. VISUAL CREATION
XXI   MOTIF AND MEDIUM                                                366
Looking at Nature -- Pigment and Meaning -- The Two Environments --
Visual Inferences -- Codes of Perception -- Convention and Creation
XXII  IMAGE AND EMOTION                                               383
Virtues of the Picture Postcard -- Taste and Distastep --
Motion and Rest -- Ascending Gradients --
Summary
XXIII ART AND PROGRESS                                                393
Cumulative Periods -- Stagnation and Cross-Fertilization --
Statement and Implication
XXIV  CONFUSION AND STERILITY                                         400
The Aesthetics of Snobbery -- The Personal Emanation --
The Antiquarian Fallacy -- The Comforts of Sterility
BOOK TWO
HABIT AND ORIGINALITY
*
Introduction                                                          413
I     PRENATAL SKILLS                                                 415
Structure and Function -- The Cell-Matrix --
Nucleus and Cytoplasm -- Regulative and Mosaic Development --
Organizers and Inducers --
Summary
II    THE UBIQUITOUS HIERARCHY                                        430
Development of the Nervous System -- Locomotor Hierarchies --
The Goldfish and the Crab -- Shuffling the Salamander's Limbs --
Limits of Control
III   DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AND REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL                  447
Acting and Reacting -- What is Equilibrium? --
Super-Elasticity and Regenerative Span -- Physiological Isolation
IV    RECULER POUR MIEUX SAUTER                                       454
Structural 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 Evolution
V     PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION                                      467
VI    CODES OF INSTINCT BEHAVIOUR                                     475
The Genetics of Behaviour -- Instinct and Learning --
Tinbergen's Hierarchy --
Appetitive Behaviour and Consummatory Act --
Leerlauf and Displacement -- Instinct and Originality
VII   IMPRINTING AND IMITATION                                        489
The 'Following-response' -- Bird-song and Parrot-talk --
Untapped Resources
VIII  MOTIVATION                                                      495
Retrospect -- Decline of the Reflex --
Hunger, Fear, and Curiosity -- The Exploratory Drive
IX    PLAYING AND PRETENDING                                          509
Difficulties of Definition--The Ludic and the Ludicrous
X     PERCEPTION AND MEMORY                                           513
Screening 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 --
Summary
XI    MOTOR SKILLS                                                    544
Learning Hierarchies --
Summary: Rigidity and Freedom
XII   THE PITFALLS OF LEARNING THEORY                                 556
A 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 Box
XIII  THE PITFALLS OF GESTALT                                         573
More about Chimpanzees -- Uniform Factors in Learning --
Criteria of Insight Learning -- Preconditions of Insight --
The Ambiguities of Gestalt -- Putting Two and Two Together
XIV   LEARNING TO SPEAK                                               592
Intending and Saying -- The Dawn of Symbol Consciousness --
Concepts and Labels -- Ideation and Verbalization
XV    LEARNING TO THINK                                               606
Abstraction, Discrimination, and Transfer --
The Magic of Names -- The Rise of Causality --
Explaining and Understanding -- The Dawn of Mathematics --
The Dawn of Logics
XVI   SOME ASPECTS OF THINKING                                        630
Multi-dimensionality -- The Experience of Free Choice --
Degrees of Self-Awareness -- Master-Switches and Releasers --
Explicit Rules and Implicit Codes -- Matrix Categories
XVII  ASSOCIATION                                                     642
Multiple Attunements -- Types of Association
XVIII HABIT AND ORIGINALITY                                           649
Bridging the Gap -- Searching for a Code --
Degrees of Originality -- Association and Bisociation
APPENDIX I
ON LOADSTONES AND AMBER                                               661
APPENDIX II
SOME FEATURES 0F GENIUS                                               674
1.    THE SENSE OF WONDER                                             674
Aristotle 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 Pasteur
2.    INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE                                        703
Precociousness -- Scepticism and Credulity --
Abstraction and Practicality -- Multiple Potentials
References                                                            709
Works Mentioned in this Book                                          717
Acknowledgements                                                      729
Index                                                                 731