PRESYMBOLIC PROCESSES IN SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY

Most accounts of scientific thinking emphasize the role of symbolic re combinations as the source of creativity. This misses the important ro le that presymbolic processes may play. This article argues that the r elative neglect is, in part, due to erroneous models of explanation, w hich dominate much of the literature, and argues instead for a model o f explanation based on an analogy to dynamic physical systems. As an e xample, some of Michael Faraday's work is described and analyzed using dynamic approaches in an informal manner. The results suggest that, u sing William James's (1890) phrasing, it is possible to seek a ''reins tatement of the vague to its proper place in the mental life'' (p. 254 ).