ABSTRACT
The ninth chapter is about the discovery of creative imagination. Humans have been innovating since the Paleolithic. Yet until the High Middle Ages, creativity was considered the exclusive privilege of the deity. However, some isolated precursors, such as the Akkadian priestess Enheduanna or the Greek poet Pindar, saw things differently. But the vast majority believed that the ideas and the real elements of the cosmos existed from the beginning of time as eternal creations. Consequently, innovations were always thought to be divine gifts. Eventually, however, general ideas ceased to be regarded as God’s eternal creations, as in the Platonic and theological traditions, and became human products. The ideas turned into mere names: Nominalism was born. Nominalism made it necessary to explain how humans can form general concepts. Richard of St. Victor (ca. 1110–1173) was the first to present a theory of human creativity. Gradually, his theory became popular. Since the Renaissance, a universal cult of creativity and innovation took hold of all areas of life, from the arts and sciences, to engineering and economics, to politics and fashion. The cult of creativity became the signature of modernity. With Machiavelli and the contract theorists, it reshaped political ideas theoretically. Since ideas became practice, innovations were implemented as reforms and revolutions. That is why modern societies, unlike traditional ones, are constantly in a state of flux.
