The origin and philosophical roots of genius as a source of creativity

ABSTRACT




Objectives: The phenomenon of genius has persisted throughout history, with individuals of exceptional intellect contributing to significant advancements and creative endeavors across different time periods. The rise of exceptional individuals across various domains, including art, mysticism, philosophy, and groundbreaking concepts in the humanities, has often been seen as either fanciful legends or interpreted through a superstitious perspective as divine beings and their guiding spirits. This stems from a lack of understanding of the true nature and essence of genius. The supersensible nature of genius has kept it safe from the grasp of empirical tests; thus, the remarkable effects produced cannot be attributed to any specific cause within the framework of causal relationships. How beautiful it is that this very statement illustrates the distinction and boundary between the natural sciences and the humanities. The natural sciences, as the pride of the age of empiricism, rely on the scientific assertion that every effect has a cause, leading to the discovery of thousands of inventions and the laws governing phenomena—laws whose understanding transformed human dominion over events into dominion over occurrences. However, this is not the case in the humanities, where humans are the agents and causes of every effect they have created and brought into existence.
This article aims to recognize and explore this boundless power within human existence. A power that belongs to the noumenal aspect of humanity, whose impact is thousands of times greater than discoveries in the natural sciences. Genius that requires the Idea of freedom for its emergence and manifestation An essence that demands specific conditions for its emergence and manifestation, with a clear example being the intellectual and cultural revolution and the reaching of the peak and perfection, as well as the emergence and birth of seeds of thought, especially in philosophy. Therefore, can we rely on anything other than the understanding of the truth of its nature for the formulation, creation of systematic order, and theorizing about genius? A truth that lies hidden behind appearances and opens a window to absolute, immortal, stable, and eternal knowledge beyond the confines of time and space. A theoretical comprehensiveness that, a priori, prepares the form and structure for giving meaning to life, alas, the pursuit of this concern is the preoccupation of only a few individuals; this is because the application of thought and rational reasoning within the framework of conventional science and the deciphering of purely objective phenomena holds legitimacy.
Methodology: The pursuit of truth at the level of appearances leads to reliance on the methods of induction and deduction; however, the limitations of this mode of inference become evident when the nature and essence of the subject are different, and this understanding arises that every phenomenon, in appearance, has an essence in its depths. Therefore, we have two paths: First, it should be noted that, like Commons, and through experience and the ideals arising from it, Genesis and formation can be found in the depths of appearances. Then, Synthetic knowledge can be achieved by synthesizing the thesis and concepts in the realm of theoretical reason principles. Alternatively, one could adopt Kant's method of comparative analysis of moral laws with natural laws, preparing forms as a priori synthetic knowledge, and extracting the principles and arguments necessary for theorizing. The second path is to adopt a comparative analytical approach to moral laws and natural laws, as Kant did, preparing forms and structures as a priori synthetic knowledge and extracting the principles and arguments necessary for theorizing. The methodology of this study is based on the second approach. For this reason, it ultimately directs attention to the importance of immediate knowledge compared to acquired knowledge, to marginalize experience and rational reasoning.
Results: results in this research indicate that explaining the supersensible nature of genius will not be possible unless a developed process of thoughts can play a role scientifically (not within the conventional science framework) and within a systematic and unity-creating framework, revolving around free play between imagination and understanding. This process aims to enable the utilization of existential capacities and latent talents. In this process, imagination, through the mediation of the perfection of reason and the flow of the spirit-carrying genius, targets a supersensible understanding and an absolute truth without resorting to sensory perceptions or even the rational knowledge of reasoning, aiming for an infinite goal.
Conclusions: The results of this research find meaning in connection with the findings presented. It emphasizes that explaining how the spirit carrying genius flows directs attention to the fact that genius should be addressed in the realm of presence rather than abstraction. For this reason, exploring its nature in the framework of conventional science will lead nowhere. Moreover, due to the nature previously explained, it requires a specific methodology for theorizing, which has been elaborated upon in another article.
Keywords: Genius, creativity, super sensibility, nature, immediate knowledge, Freedom