Sunday 25 January 2009

Tahfifah: On ‘Ideas’

The issue on ‘ideas’ was raised while discussing (a few days ago) with few friends. I remembered a book on ideas that I read for the second time a few years ago (couldn’t remember the title & the author at that time). When I reached home, I managed to find the book – “How To Get Ideas” written by Jack Foster – 208 pages.
Discussing what exactly an idea is, Foster (1996) wrote:
“... the unexpected joining of two “old elements” to create a new whole that make sense, “two matrices of thought” (as Koestler puts it) meeting at the pass.”
Examples given by Foster:
1. Someone put fire & food together and got cooking.
2. Someone put a rag & a stick together and got a mop.
3. Lipman put a pencil & an eraser together and got a pencil with an eraser.
4. Hutchins put an alarm & a clock together and got an alarm clock.
5. Gutenberg put a coin punch & a wine press together and got a printing press.
6. Dali put dreams & art together and got surrealism.
7. Darwin put human disasters & proliferation of species together and got natural selection.
8. Newton put the tides & the fall of an apple together and got gravity.
(Adapted: How To Get Ideas, 1996: pg 22 – 23)

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