Creativity is inherent. To the extent that teaching in the sense of formal education enters the picture, it seems neutral at best and in many contexts destructive of creativity. I am not sure what Peirce thinks about what is inherent within a person and what is acquired, but the statement you quote seems to me to ignore the impetus to art and expression that is revealed in play - the play of children and the play that Peirce seems to celebrate in the NA. If teaching is meant to be "life" or the environment, I would still imagine that such instruction is a bringing out of things that were already inherent in the "student".
*@stephencrose <https://twitter.com/stephencrose>* On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 7:53 PM, Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> wrote: > That's an interesting comment, Gary R - but I don't agree. I don't think > that creativity is something that can or must be taught. I think that we > humans are naturally curious, exploratory and thus, creative. You can watch > any young child at play to see this, as they put together strange sandpile > shapes or figure out how to manipulate a parent to get that extra sweet. > > I don't think that destruction is the default position - which it would be > if you assume that creativity only exists IF it is taught. I think that > destruction emerges out of psychological angst and anger - and - it is not > in itself always 'taught', i.e., the result of childhood abuse. I think > that sociopathic behaviour can be innate. > > As for doing nothing - I don't consider it destructive or leading to > decline. Releasing oneself from the bondage of action in a retreat is not > a destructive action in many ideologies, eg, Buddhist, Christian retreat. > > Edwina > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Gary Richmond <[email protected]> > *To:* Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Jon Awbrey <[email protected]> ; Peirce List 1 > <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, September 01, 2014 6:57 PM > *Subject:* Re: [PEIRCE-L] Q. Why is there so much falsity in the world? > > Edwina, Jon, list, > > A friend of mine, a Peirce scholar not currently in this forum, just > happened to include this comment in a personal note. I thought it had some > relevance. > > To the extent that humans are not taught to be creative, they will be > destructive (even if only by default; even doing nothing is destructive, or > leads to decline). > > Best, > > Gary > > *Gary Richmond* > *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* > *Communication Studies* > *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* > *C 745* > *718 482-5690 <718%20482-5690>* > > > On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> You are playing games with us, Jon! You haven't said WHY you consider >> that people 'prefer falsity to truth, illusion to reality'. >> >> And I don't agree with your conclusion, for it carries within it an >> assumption that truth and reality are unpleasant. Are they? >> >> What about - the fact (truth, reality) that our species has the greatest >> capacity of all living organisms to 'imagine' the world. That capacity for >> imagination enables man to invent - something that animals, for the most >> part, have little capacity to do. Rather than waiting for evolution to >> develop wings, man imagines flying and invents the airplane. And email >> and.... >> >> And in his capacity for invention, man must deal with truth and reality. >> Or, the plane won't fly and the computer won't exist or work. >> >> So, aren't we a combination of both? And thus, don't we require both? >> >> Edwina >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Awbrey" <[email protected]> >> To: "Peirce List 1" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 3:50 PM >> Subject: [PEIRCE-L] Q. Why is there so much falsity in the world? >> >> >> A. Because people prefer falsity to truth, illusion to reality. >>> >>> ⁂ >>> >>> Being the drift of my reflections on the plays I saw at Stratford this >>> summer — >>> King Lear, King John, Man of La Mancha, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, >>> Crazy for You, Hay Fever. >>> >>> ⁂ >>> >>> The Beaux’ Stratagem • Masks, Madness, & Shakespeare's Sonnets • Anthony >>> and Cleopatra >>> >>> ⁂ >>> >>> http://web.archive.org/web/20140730150000/http://www. >>> stratfordfestival.ca/mobile/plays.aspx?id=63 >>> http://web.archive.org/web/20140901185642/http://www. >>> stratfordfestival.ca/forum/showcases.aspx?id=20472 >>> >>> ⁂ >>> >>> The obligatory report on What I Did This Summer, >>> but not unrelated to pressing problems of logic. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> Jon >>> >>> -- >>> >>> academia: http://independent.academia.edu/JonAwbrey >>> my word press blog: http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/ >>> inquiry list: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/ >>> isw: http://intersci.ss.uci.edu/wiki/index.php/JLA >>> oeiswiki: http://www.oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey >>> facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JonnyCache >>> >>> >>> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> -------------------- >> >> >> >>> ----------------------------- >>> PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON >>> PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to >>> [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to >>> PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe >>> PEIRCE-L" in the BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/ >>> peirce-l/peirce-l.htm . >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> ----------------------------- >> PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON >> PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to >> [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L >> but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the >> BODY of the message. More at >> http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm . >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . 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