The Nature of Creativity
Creativity is treated here as a philosophical and psychological problem rather than a talent to admire. The course, offered through MIT OpenCourseWare, asks how imagination and innovation work across human experience, drawing on the history of philosophy alongside newer research in affective psychology, cognitive science, and art theory. Readings and guided study are tailored to each student's particular angle of interest, so the syllabus functions more like a directed independent study than a fixed lecture sequence. Materials include course readings and study guidance published through MIT's open courseware platform, free to access without enrollment. The course suits students who want to think rigorously about where new ideas come from, whether creativity is a single faculty or a bundle of separate cognitive and emotional processes, and how philosophers and psychologists have tried to explain it.