ABSTRACT
An act of creation was considered a twofold act in Western medieval thought: 1 first, creatures were given a shape, and afterwards they were animated with a soul. 2 Living beings were created according to a form their maker had in mind (forma concepta in mente artificis), shaping the idea before giving matter a shape. The second step of animation – the bestowing of a soul on humans, animals, monsters, ideas, works of art, and artifacts – also had a source, namely an original idea, thought, or inspiration. This twofold interpretation of creativity was discussed by Western medieval scholars in the context of the divine acts of creation recounted in Genesis. 3 These divine acts, together with reflections on the origin of the cosmos, shaped the ideas concerning human acts of creation and the origins of human creativity developed in the Middle Ages.
