TOWARD A LANGUAGE OF INVENTION AND SYNTHETIC THINKING

The field of creativity needs to make room for commonplace inventions: hand tools, tables, and chairs. When examined on a conceptual basis, these simple implements reveal a rich set of concepts and principles t hat provide a first approximation to a language of invention and synth etic thinking. Such a language has potential application to broader do mains and to more complex areas of creativity. Any such language must build on common terms and ideas to produce a systematic approach to th e familiar. That approach is implemented here in the context of a simp le invention, the chair and its relatives, with other examples brought in to illustrate generality. Two different paths of invention are put forth. First, a conceptual history based on the gradual accretion of complexity, and second, a modem account based on the principles of eng ineering design. Each provides a useful framework for a different way of viewing creativity, yet the central concepts remain the same.