Creativity: Surprise and Abductive Reasoning

Abstract

This paper investigates creativity focusing on the nature of abductive reasoning, as originally formulated by Peirce, situating it in the context of the theory of self-organization. An ancient question will be addressed: is it appropriate to investigate creative processes from a mechanistic perspective or do they involve subjective elements which cannot -in principle -be investigated from a mechanistic view? This question will guide our investigation, which has as an initial hypothesis that creativity starts with surprise and involves a self-organizing process in which abductive reasoning occurs allowing the expansion of well-structured set of beliefs. This process is considered a part of the establishment of habits in self-organizing systems. We argue that a deeper understanding of how self-organizing processes involving abductive reasoning may take place in creative systems could elucidate the complex debate about the mechanical versus nonmechanical ingredients of creativity.

Во Канцеларијата На Доктор Хаус: Лекции По Абдуктивно Расудување

“…распространетоста на нејзините механизми во многу различни полиња, почнувајќи од секојдневното расудување, преку формирањето на филозофските и научните теории, па сѐ до толкувањето на јазичните феномени, кривичните истраги, правното расудување, вештачката интелигенција и други области (cf. Gonzalez and Haselager, 2005;Magnani, 2005Magnani, , 2014Neal, 2000;Pa-ul, 1993;Peng and Reggia, 1990;Poole, 1990;Sun, Finnie and Weber, 2005;Walton, 2005). Истражувањата во сите овие сфери отвораат голем број концептуални проблеми поврзани со абдуктивното расудување, како што се, на пример: односот на абдуктивното и индуктивното расудување како различни форми на недедуктивното заклучување; критериумите за формирање и евалуирање на прифатливите хипотези при објаснувањето на набљудуваните факти; присуството на дедуктивните елементи во извлекувањето на логичките последици од различните хипотези; класификацијата на абдуктивните заклучоци; нормативниот статус на абдуктивното расудување итн.…”

Information and mechanical models of intelligence

“…As stressed in Gonzalez and Haselager (2005), this paradigm occupies a special place in the spectrum of AI research. Instead of being immobile, knowledge driven, inference machines, reactive robots operate without any explicit central knowledge consultation, inferential processes or model construction.…”

“…Also, as the robot-environment couplings are, in general, pre-wired, they cannot modify and be modified by their surroundings. One consequence of this is that they do not, for example, "step out" of disturbing, unpredictable situations in order to observe that something unusual may be blocking their habitual way of dealing with the environment (Gonzalez and Haselager 2005). Great attention has been given to this kind of problem in evolutionary robotics, as developed, for example, by Nolfi and Floreano (2000) and others that make use of genetic algorithms in biology and self-organizing mechanisms, in order to investigate more flexible models of intelligent autonomous behavior.…”

A Capture and Access Technology to Support Documentation and Tracking of Qualitative Research Applied to Hci

“…Then it disappears when abductive reasoning is completed. Hence, the absence of surprise is a characteristic of a good (completed) abduction (Gonzalez & Haselager, 2005).…”

“…Figure 40 depicts Peirce's interpretation of the abductive reasoning and the role of surprise in it. Considering its use in the scientific context, a relevant feature of the abduction process as defined in Peirce's semiotic theory lies in its fallibility and self-correction of the meaning-making process (Gonzalez & Haselager, 2005;Magnani, 2005;Santaella, 2005). The theory characterizes more realistically the scientific research activities within a human scale, where each researcher has finite resources (means, data, methods, perspectives, and even lifespan) that prevent him/her from reaching an absolute truth.…”