Explicating ‘creativity’

Given the many ways people use the word, it seems unlikely that -‘creativity’ names a single concept shared by all reasonably well-informed parties. An explication of ‘creativity’ can, however, identify “a good thing to mean” by this term in the context of systematic enquiry. 1 Contributing to such an explication is the aim of this chapter. My focus is on creative actions and achievements. What makes such things creative, I propose, is originality in the devising of an effective means to some end. This proposal stands in contrast to value-neutral conceptions of creativity, as well as to various honorific conceptions according to which the pursuit or realisation of good goals is necessary to creativity.