Creativity vs Logic

In every school, there is always the people who are more creative, with preferences to the arts. Then there are those who are the more logical and analytical, usually better at Maths, Science and the Humanities. These two characteristics are sometimes categorized as being "left-brained" or "right-brained".



If you possess both of these qualities, then lucky you, but it is likely that you will lack in one of these qualities as opposed to the other. I myself find it obvious which one I fall into. And that is the "left-brained" category. I lack in creativity, art is probably my least enjoyed subject, and I will always get a higher grade in my English essays as opposed to a creative piece of writing. But sometimes I really wish I was more creative. But then I wonder what is the more preferred trait, being logical, or being creative?

For some reason, I feel the more creative people are portrayed as the ones with better personalities, the ones who are typically more humble and to the majority of people, more interesting.


Reasons why I hate this chart?

• The definition of logic has been lost.
• Logic will be pinpointed to particular subjects (Maths, Sciences), giving the depiction that they are 'bad' subjects and the arts are 'better'
• Someone who is supposedly "logical" exhibits the following characteristics:

- Ignorance 

- Arrogance

- Insecure 

- Lack of thirst for self improvement

Firstly, this chart is almost giving being "logical" a bad impression. Being logical is a good trait, and am unable to see how it could be bad. But they have wrongly defined "logical", hence why they put it in speech marks. I think this is mainly down to stereotypes, as we see certain people as being logical, and therefore assume that one of their characteristics is because they are logical. When it is wrongly chosen, due to lack of rigor in common definitions.

This chart has just made the assumption that the supposedly opposite of creativity is logic. Is that true? No. It is frankly the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

People will interpret 'logic' in different ways. Some will say logic is simply the ability to reason, using only to what is valid. I can see why people would see logic and creativity as being opposites

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

-Erich Fromm

If logic is trying to abide to these strict rules, in order to have good reasoning, and creativity is trying to "let go of certainties" then surely they are opposite? Yes, I suppose it sounds like that, but construction of reason also requires creativity.

When we give reasons, we have to explore all aspects that the topic is linked to. Yes, we can speak generally, but strictly speaking, we have to observe everything to the finest detail that we could possibly use to support the reason.

And that is key. We, explore, and observe. That to me is an art. exploration of a topic doesn't exactly involve abiding to these strict rules. In involves going in with an open mind, and seeing what you can find to put together. To create. The same with observation. Observation is exploring different ways of viewing things, and seeing the variation. In the chart above, on of the "logical" responses was "What's the right solution", and the corresponding creative response was "How many solutions can I come up with". Because creativity is about variation, as well as "letting go of certainties".

As a conclusion:

• Logic has lost its true definition, due to stereotypes and many other factors
• Creativity and logic are not exactly opposite
• Observation and exploration are key to logic involving creativity

I have wrote a similar post on my Maths blog, to do with Maths and its creative implications.