Phenomenology of Creativity

History, Paradoxes, Personality

The book presents a contrasting study of the views of ancient Indian, Chinese, Greek, Middle Eastern, and Russian philosophers on creativity. It also discusses the subject of creativity as viewed by Freud, Jung, Adler, the Gestalt school, and other prominent Western psychologists. A special place is provided for an overview of the history of Soviet psychology, and of the revival of psychology in Azerbaijan after the fall of the Soviet Union. The author emphasizes the importance of the social environment in determining the development of the personality. He states that most personal activity is directed at serving the values of the surrounding society, not the values of the person himself. The author considers that creativity is a psychic defense mechanism which people use to solve everyday problems in order to restore their inner and outer equilibrium. Samad Seyidovs study of creativity comes at the right time and from the right place. Not only are we passing through a period of rapid change, particularly in such fields as nanotechnology, neuroscience, physiological psychology, and genetics, but also the participants in this change are no longer limited to a small group of western countries, but are increasingly appearing in different parts of the world. If the social upheaval that these changes are having in established societies is great, it is even greater in newly emerging societies. Are we equipped to manage these changes, and can the creative arts and sciences join to interpret them, drawing on their varied traditions in order to do so? That is surely the vital question that we carry away from Professor Seyidovs important study of personality and creativity. Prof. Eleni Karamalengu, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens