Metapsychology of the Creative Process: Continuous Novelty as the Ground of Creative Advance

Many are fascinated by the phenomenon of genius and search for an understanding of its nature. Modern research is not especially helpful in elucidating the inner process or its relation to ordinary thought. The present work comes from clinical studies of focal brain injuries that dissect unconscious cognition to reveal sub-surface lines of processing. The outcome is a process (microgenetic) theory of the mental state that differs markedly from mainstream (cognitive) psychology, but with the potential to clarify many features of thought and imagery, normal and exceptional. Creativity is not an isolated problem but touches many central issues in philosophical psychology.

Jason Brown is a behavioural neurologist and, for over 30 years, Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University Medical Center. He has authored 13 books and over 200 articles on disorders of language and cognition with brain damage and other topics in neuropsychology. In his microgenetic theory, he extends insights from clinical study to topics in the philosophy of mind.