Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-7lvjp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-12T05:01:23.472Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An evolutionary interpretation of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom: A link between the evolution of organisms and the evolution of ideas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2001

Robert J. Sternberg
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8205 [email protected] www.yale.edu/rjsternberg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I show that there is a link between the evolution of organisms and the evolution of ideas. In particular, if conformity is selected for, then mechanisms are needed so that “mutations” of ideas can occur. Creativity acts as a counter-force to conventional intelligence, so that ideas can develop that do not just elaborate existing paradigms, but oppose these paradigms. Sometimes oppositional ideas go too far, however, and wisdom acts as a force to bring the old and the new together. The dialectic thus integrates intelligence, creativity, and wisdom, with intelligence serving as thesis, creativity as antithesis, and wisdom as synthesis.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2000 , pp. 160 - 161
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)