No. 76 (2026): Número en curso
Articles

When Darwin’s “Universal Acid” Comes into Contact with Human Creativity

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  • Malena León
Malena León National University of Córdoba image/svg+xml

Published 2026-06-01

How to Cite

León, M. (2026). When Darwin’s “Universal Acid” Comes into Contact with Human Creativity. Tópicos, Revista De Filosofía, 76, 119-158. https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v760.3265

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Abstract

Dennett has argued that a thorough reception of Darwinian evolutionary theory must modify our conception of mental phenomena, which traditionally includes human creativity. In this article, I aim to systematize and develop some guidelines that a Darwinian approach to human creativity should adopt, following Dennett’s ideas. I argue that Dennett’s Darwinian approach to creativity is pluralistic in nature—since it incorporates processes of different kinds which operate at different levels—it includes explanations that account for the cumulative nature of design, and it considers that creative processes are largely collaborative and do not necessarily involve understanding. Thus, it is an approach that maintains that the human mind, acting individually, does not possess the power assigned to it by pre-Darwinian approaches to creativity.

Keywords

  • Daniel Dennett,
  • creativity,
  • Darwinism,
  • cultural evolution,
  • design without a designer,
  • competence without comprehension,
  • creative genius,
  • community level,
  • universal acid,
  • bottom-up processes,
  • derived intentionality
    • ...More
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References

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