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The way we use conceptual space differs, and this leads to three levels of creativity.
According to Boden, there are three levels of activating knowledge about a certain domain:
mapping, exploration and transformation.
To map conceptual space means making a mental representation of conceptual space in our
mind, in which we use our knowledge to connect it in such a way to apply this to what it is we want
to achieve. Mapping is used to find out what we are (and are not) capable of where our knowledge
is concerned. It is as if we travel through the mental representation in our mind, along the corridors
of our knowledge of the domain which we are mapping, so we can pinpoint our limits of knowledge
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on the subject of that domain.
Exploration is related to mapping, but goes a lot further (and touches already more on
aspects we usually associate with the idea of creativity). Where mapping refers to the retrieval of
known knowledge about the domain from the conceptual space, exploration uncovers implicit
knowledge, that is, knowledge that we didn't realize we had before, or using our knowledge in such
a way to come up with a new solution. Boden herself gives a great example of what exploration is
all about:
When Dickens described Scrooge as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,
clutching, covetous old sinner", he was exploring the space of English grammar. He was
reminding the reader (and himself) that the rules of grammar allow us to use seven
adjectives before a noun. That possibility already existed, although its existence may not
have been realized by the reader.
(Boden, 1991)
Transformation is the most rigorous of the three processes within conceptual space. Here,
our knowledge is applied in a way that is unpredictable, but still based on intuition, gut feeling or
whatever vague term applies (and thus, still is based on something we know. I asked myself earlier
how it is possible to create 'something' out of 'nothing'. The answer is that we aren't.) This is related
to mapping and exploration in such a way, that one makes a representation of conceptual space
(mapping), one explores this conceptual space (exploration), and then one pushes its boundaries so
that something new, a novel idea, emerges (transformation). In other words, transformation actually
creates new knowledge by use of already existing knowledge.17
These three processes all follow one another, as we can't explore our knowledge of a certain
domain without mapping it first, and we can't transform our knowledge without exploring it first. So
these processes can be seen as serial. This is not to say that, for example, transformation is more
creative than exploration just because it is the highest achievable stage within a creative process.
This raises a very important question, the question when creativity matters . Is transformation of
17 Boden does not mention at all how this process works, but I could not shake off the feeling that the mapping, the
exploration and the transformation of conceptual space is a (partly) serial process, meaning that these processes
occur after one another . Also, the nature of the processes force me to suggest that all processes depend on each
other. For example, how can you explore a certain conceptual space if you have not mapped it before? The same
goes for transformation, meaning you need to have have mapped it and explored it, before you can touch upon, and
transform the 'contents' of this space.
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knowledge always something to strive for, more than exploration, just because it pushes the
boundaries of already present knowledge? There is not really a fixed answer to this question
because it all depends on the context. What do we want to achieve by applying our knowledge? If
we look at creativity as something to strive for, then the answer seems to be pretty straight forward:
when we want to go on creative endeavours, we strive for transformation of our knowledge so that
novel ideas can emerge, since transformation is the most creative use of knowledge and so novel
ideas actually appear to be as such.
However, an alternative answer relates to two aspects that are just as important to the
creative process as the way we use our knowledge in conceptual space: motivation and attention. In
his essay From Above And Below: Problems With Boden s Model Of Human Creativity (n.d.),
Jonathan Nightingale criticises Boden for failing to address these two aspects. While ignoring
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