Saturday, April 02, 2011

the creative act

"The act of imagination is the opening of the system so that it shows new connections. Every act of act of imagination is the discovery of likenesses between two things which were thought unlike. An example is Newton’s thinking of the likeness between the thrown apple and moon sailing majestically in the sky. Hence, the ‘discovery’ of the laws of gravity." — Jacob Bronowski
A friend last night was explaining to me that Newton's discovery was not from an apple falling from a tree, but from his speculations, as to how hard an apple must be thrown to circle the earth as dos the moon. We thus see that discovery is not merely a passive thing that happens to one in the course of time, but is a thing that takes place on the active side. When asked how he knew what he had discovered was true, Newton, answered, "I've done the calculations."

"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." — Jacob Bronowski (The Ascent of Man)

And so we can see that we'd best not create schools for the distribution of knowledge but for the stimulation of inquiry.

make, fix and create

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