Insights of Genius: Imagery and Creativity in Science and Art - Softcover

Miller, Arthur I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262631997 ISBN 13: 9780262631990

Publisher: MIT Press, 2000

Synopsis

How can new knowledge be created from already existing knowledge? Insights of Genius shows how seeing is central to the greatest advances of the human intellect. Artists and scientists alike rely on visual representations of worlds both visible and invisible. Insights of Genius, first published by Copernicus in 1996, explores the creative leaps that led some of the greatest scientists and artists to dramatically transform how we understand nature. The scope of figures runs from Galileo and da Vinci to Einstein and Picasso. Focusing on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the age of modern art and modern physics, the book travels through the philosophy of mind and language, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and art history. Insights of Genius discusses intuition, aesthetics, realism, representation, metaphors, and visual imagery. Allied to these concepts are causality, relativity, energy conservation, entropy, the correspondence principle, scientific creativity, and Cubism. Running through the book is the idea that science extends our intuition from common sense to an understanding of a world beyond our perception.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur I. Miller is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London. He is the author of Colliding Worlds: How Cutting-Edge Science is Redefining Contemporary Art and other books including Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc.

Review:

-- Rudolf Arnheim, "Journal of Aesthetic Education"

" "Insights of Genius" is one of very few books to make a serious attempt to place scientific imagery into a wider context alongside creative activities in the visual and linguistic arts. It provides a lucid and fluently written beginning to a huge subject." -- John D. Barrow, "Times Higher Education Supplement" " . . . the best discussion of creativity I have come across." -- Rudolf Arnheim, "Journal of Aesthetic Education"

& quot; Insights of Genius is one of very few books to make a serious attempt to place scientific imagery into a wider context alongside creative activities in the visual and linguistic arts. It provides a lucid and fluently written beginning to a huge subject.& quot; -- John D. Barrow, Times Higher Education Supplement & quot; . . . the best discussion of creativity I have come across.& quot; -- Rudolf Arnheim, Journal of Aesthetic Education

""Insights of Genius" is one of very few books to make a serious attempt to place scientific imagery into a wider context alongside creative activities in the visual and linguistic arts. It provides a lucid and fluently written beginning to a huge subject."--John D. Barrow, "Times Higher Education Supplement"." . . the best discussion of creativity I have come across."--Rudolf Arnheim, "Journal of Aesthetic Education"

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0262631997
• ISBN 13: 9780262631990
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 504