CREATIVITY IN SCIENCE

Creativity is a concept far more often associated with art than with science. The creative dimension of scientific inquiry and practice is described and compared with its artistic counterpart; similarities and differences are analyzed. The Scientific Enterprise To examine what it means to be creative in science, it is important to begin by developing a shared view of the scientific enterprise, the context in which the scientist is creative. There exists a great deal of confusion and distrust about the scientific enterprise. Some argue that since scientists keep asserting that they are discovering the Truth and then keep changing their minds about what is True, there is no reason to believe anything scientists say. Others argue that all scientific views of nature are just another set of metaphors, and since these metaphors are rather dull compared with the metaphors of literature or music, there is little point in making the effort to understand them. It is certainly the case that much is still unfathomable about the properties of matter, an