”Som universitetsstuderande tränas man sällan i teoretiskt konstruktionsarbete. Man tränas i att läsa och lära sig teorier men man tränas inte i att konstruera och formulera dem. Hur mycket man än läser av de stora mästarna Freud, Marx, Piaget, Weber etc, får man en mycket begränsad kunskap om hur de faktiskt gjorde när de konstruerade sina teorier.

Metodlitteraturen är med några få undantag skriven i syfte att lära ut bevisets väg, dvs göra urval, operationalisera begrepp och testa hypoteser. Man förleds tro att vetenskap är liktydigt med bevisets väg. Vad är det då som skiljer testandet av hypoteser från att konstruera dem och hur gör man om man vill konstruera teorier? Kan man överhuvudtaget lära sig detta och kan man i så fall förmedla denna kunskap?”

“Due to Descartes’ rich correspondence with contemporary personalities of his time we are able to retrace some of the creative processes that have led to his philosophy. William Fovet has recently reviewed and commented Geneviève Rodis-Lewis’ biography of Descartes (Fovet, 1996). The title of Fovet’s article is revealing: ”Descartes’philosophical vocation emerged in a mythical dream.”According to Rodis- Lewis Descartes during one night in November 1619 in a warm chamber (a famous ”poêle”, which he appreciated) in Neuburg, Bavaria, had dreams that would impact the rest of his life. Notably, he dreamt that he held an encyclopaedia in his hand. This can be interpreted as a search for the unity and completeness of science. The next morning Descartes decided to devote the rest of his life to cultivate his reason.

Ernst von Glasersfeld was told in school a story on how Descartes may have invented analytical geometry (von Glasersfeld, 1995, p. 30-31). Analytical geometry was one of his major contributions to science, which demonstrated his genius. It enabled translating geometry into algebra. It was approximately at the same time and the same place as the event described in the paragraph above. As usual he was keeping hot on the stove of a peasant’s house. The stove was placed in the corner of the family room, leaving enough room to rest just below the ceiling. Descartes was not the only one appreciating warmth. The flies in the house used that part of the ceiling as a home base. Descartes, lying on the platform created by the stove, observed the flies walking about. He asked himself how one could accurately describe their movements and had a stroke of genius. ”There were two lines, formed by the meeting of the walls and the ceiling, that met in a right angle in the corner of the room. The position of a fly could be described by projecting it on both lines and measuring the respective distances of the two projections from the corner”(ibid.). Thus analytical geometry was born probably in a subliminal state of consciousness according to this beautiful anecdote. Irrespective of its veracity it sheds some light in the creative process of science. Remember Vico’s concept of ingenium, i.e. ”mental ability that enables quick, relevant and fortunate linking between separate things”(Pons, 1981, p. 131).”

”Vad menas med en idé? Vad menas med "kreativa processer"? Vad skiljer dessa fenomen från övriga former av kognitiv aktivitet på olika medvetenhetsnivåer? Frågelistan skulle lätt kunna göras längre. … Allmänt sett så menar vi att det viktigaste kännetecknet för en "idé" (eller ett "kreativt bidrag" om man föredrar denna formulering) är att den överskrider tidigare erfarenheter och, åtminstone delvis, revolterar mot dessa.”

“The design of sneakers varied little until the 1960s, when competitive runners began to turn to lighter-weight shoes. Reducing the weight of shoes clearly improved performance, but problems of traction remained. A running coach, Bill Bowerman, went into the sneaker business in 1962. He paid close attention to the interest in lighter-weight shoes and the problems of traction. One morning while he was making waffles he had an idea. He heated a piece of rubber in the waffle iron to produce the first waffle-shaped sole pattern that became the world standard for running shoes (Panati, 1987: 298-29). Subsequently, engineers and computers would be used to design and test the best waffle patterns for different athletic purposes. But the initial discovery came from paying attention, being open, making connections, drawing on personal experience, getting a feel for what was possible, exploration, documenting initial results, and applying what he learned.”