Does it help to apply some form of creativity in scientific research? Stated differently, does creativity have any role to play in scientific research? I would like to think so.
At first one may think that creativity is only associated with the act of conjuring up things that don’t really exist. A painter paints a land scape scene and applies creativity to render the trees and the clouds in interesting ways. As such, they are different from the trees and cloud in the real scene. In as far as the artist employs creativity, the result become different from reality.
If this is what creativity produces, then it would have no place in scientific research, because in this context, we are not interested in anything that would deviate from reality. But creativity does not only representing that which doesn’t exists. It can also be associated with a much more abstract activity.
When a theoretical researcher tries to come up with a model that describes an aspect for physical reality, he or she needs to create something that has not existed before. It is not initially known whether this model gives the correct description of reality. In that sense, one does not known whether it represents anything that is real. One would know that only after the model has been tested. But before that step can be taken, one needs to create the model. For this first step, the researcher is required to employ creativity.
The act of creating such a model is an act of bring into existence something that has not existed before. The inspiration for this model may be obtained from other similar models or from other models in unrelated fields of study. In the same way, artists get inspiration from the works of other artists. despite the source of inspiration, the resulting model is novel in one way or another. That is where the creativity lies.
So, art and science are not that different after all. Both require the same mental faculties. Perhaps they just call it by different names.
Flippiefanus 