Deconstructing Creativity

In this chapter we will introduce a theorization of creativity which may well feel counterintuitive to many at first. We contend that traditional discourses and theorizations of creativity have unconsciously limited its very nature to a set of preconceived ideas, thus distancing “creativity” as a theoretical concept from the praxis of creativity. If creativity is a matter of “going beyond”, of exploring that which might be not so obvious and clearcut and of challenging the taken-for-granted, then this puts the researcher of creativity in something of a bind. In order to be a “creativity researcher” one needs to align oneself with a set of assumptions, but in order to stay “creative” (as a moment of praxis) one has to continuously challenge these same assumptions. In fact, in order for creativity to remain “creative” it, by its very nature and definition, needs to go “beyond creativity”. We will discuss here this ontological problem of creativity, the fact that at the very core of creativity lies an aporia, a difference to itself lodged in its very being. We aim to show that a critical and philosophical analysis might be needed to get a grip on this aporia. The kind of critical analysis we want to introduce here goes by the name deconstruction.