“Today more than ever, everything seems to have to be reinvented”, assert Guy Aznar and Stéphane Ely at the very beginning of their article. They are then concerned to show that two ways of thinking may be employed to this end: the first draws on the “logical approach” to which “scientists” appeal, the second is the “creative thinking” approach. And, as the authors stress, the two methods are perhaps more complementary than is normally imagined.
How does this creative thought function? How can it be stimulated? Aznar and Ely describe its specific features and explain some elements of method, particularly distinguishing between the dynamic posture (a two-stroke engine), which they dub a rapid, quantitative strategy, and the sensitive posture (a three-stroke engine), a “hazy, slow, intuitive strategy”.
In this way they show how the indispensable “emergence of ideas” can be brought about, which we so need today to free us from patterns of thought that are often inadequate, already outdated and, hence, of little use for grasping and constructing the future.
