Special software is required to use some of the files in this section: .rm.
During the spring of 2004, four sessions of 24.262 were recorded especially for OpenCourseWare. Below are links to the videos, along with breakdowns of the video content.
These files are also available for download from iTunes®.
Session 1
Video: (56k)|(80K)|(220k)
| 1 | Discussion of the structure and format of the course - no lectures, structured like a graduate seminar. | 00:00:00 | | 2 | Anecdotes regarding how ideas are transmitted and received, and how old ideas can seed new ones (i.e. creativity). | 00:10:06 | | 3 | Discussion of professor's "Nature of Love" trilogy: difference between bestowal and appraisal. | 00:16:53 | | 4 | The Harmony of Nature and Spirit: The nature of imagination, and the nature of idealization. | 00:27:44 | | 5 | Beethoven as an example of "mad genius" - the idea of genius/creativity as a work or channel of God. Is God the only creative being in the universe? | 00:41:37 | | 6 | Koestler's idea of creativity as a function of bisociation, yoking together different matrices. Role of the unconscious - is creativity a function of dreams? | 00:50:06 | | 7 | Discussion of Three Philosophical Filmmakers. | 1:11:30 | | 8 | How does time affect learning and the ability to teach? Discussion of Professor's teaching style. | 1:19:11 | | 9 | "Mute and Inglorious Miltons" - how many geniuses go undiscovered? How many never had the opportunity to bring out their genius? | 1:32:08 | | 10 | Course Administrativa - discussion of course times and dates, Professor's index card system. | 1:42:24 |
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Session 2
Video: (56k)|(80K)|(220k)
| 1 | Review of material covered during the previous week's session. Topics include the eccentric genius, divine inspiration, "bisociation", the unconscious and dreaming, etc. | 00:00 | | 2 | The nature of creativity as the union of the affective and the cognitive. | 11:50 | | 3 | Consummation, love, and same-sex marriage. | 21:35 | | 4 | Intuition vs. Intelligence - what is the difference? What differentiates people with intuition from those with intelligence? | 30:22 | | 5 | Anecdote regarding Leonard Bernstein and creativity. | 48:42 | | 6 | Jo's presentation on the week's readings: affective attachment, intuitions, inclinations, and kinesthetic sensations. | 1:00:02 | | 7 | How does imagination relate to survival in terms of evolution? | 1:12:38 | | 8 | Organic thinkers and creativity - musicians, composers, etc. | 1:24:26 | | 9 | Discussion of the distinction between different types of creativity - logical, empirical, moral, practical, and others. | 1:35:43 | | 10 | Imagination and imaging - does imagination conjure up an actual image? | 1:55:40 | | 11 | Imagination and the imaginary. | 1:58:42 |
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Session 3
Video: (56k)|(80K)|(220k)
| 1 | Creativity and the nature of the universe / religion. What was the nature of the creativity of the creation? | 00:1:03 | | 2 | The phenomenon of the "robber baron" - people who amassed enormous fortunes and then bestowed the money upon foundations, relatives, etc. | 00:5:30 | | 3 | The difference between intuition and instinct - Bergson and the theory of creativity. Creativity as a search for perfection? Metaphysics of Plato vs. imperfect love. | 00:16:02 | | 4 | Having a "good" life as a creative act. Nietzsche's idea of the Superman (the artist). | 00:24:33 | | 5 | Is learning a creative process? Can learning science / engineering be a creative process? | 00:37:30 | | 6 | Minsky's opinions on the "emotion machine" - can people learn about their own emotions by thinking about machine emotions? | 00:56:44 | | 7 | Margaret Boden - what is creativity? Inventiveness of two sorts - superficial (exploratory), and inventive. | 1:04:37 | | 8 | What is existence in relation to the Catholic idea of "ensoulment"? What is it never to have existed? What happens when the light of consciousness goes out? | 1:17:50 | | 9 | Anthony's student presentation on the week's reading - summary of the reading, interpretations. | 1:24:41 | | 10 | Freud as a reformer in sexual politics. | 1:48:39 | | 11 | Imagination as a personal perception of the boundlesness of creativity. Humans are bounded by their imagination. How imagination changes the concept of the world. | 1:53:24 | | 12 | Discussion of Proust. | 2:08:01 |
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Session 4
Video: (56k)|(80K)|(220k)
| 1 | Relationship between the brain and the mind - the brain as a bodily instrument, and experience as something that isn't reducable to merely the work of the brain. | 00:2:20 | | 2 | Ilsa Castilla's final paper presentation: How Capitalism or Economics relate to Creativity (Art). | 00:14:35 | | 3 | Tyler's final paper presentation: Creativity in the Art Form of A Cappella Singing: The development of the art form is similar to the evolution of Rock and Roll - recording and live performance. | 1:39:05 | | 4 | Why do we want to create computers that are like humans? Discussion of Marvin Minsky and Rosalind Picard. | 2:22:32 |
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