Genius

A genius (via the French genie from the Latin genius, original case. " Generating force ", see Greek γίγνομαι " will result ", then " personal protective god ", later " system, talent " ) is a person with outstanding creative mind power ( " a brilliant scientist ," " a brilliant artist " ), or even particularly outstanding achievements in other areas.

Etymology and history of the concept

The concept of genius has two different roots: In the English -speaking world it comes from the Latin genius, a guardian spirit in the Roman religion. The Genius, the only men had lived inherent to every man, and died with him. He represented his personality and gave him the ability to father offspring. One can describe it as an inner principle of action. In art history, the genii were depicted in medieval sculptures and figures as winged figures in Baroque they were in the form of small well-fed infants a very popular decoration. The female counterpart to the Genius is Juno.

In Germany and France, the term " genius " to " ingenium " (natural, innate talent ) are returned. During the Renaissance, people began with the "genius" word to describe artistic creativity or the source of inspiration. After the French Querelle des Anciens et Modernes, the term then spread out abruptly and dominated the aesthetic debates: the term "genius" was now the one hand, for the creating of itself artist who not only imitates nature (as the former aesthetic model envisaged ), but completes what nature itself could not complete the other hand, for the talent or talent.

The nature of understanding this underlying model can already be traced back to Aristotle essentially. Crucial adds it was still by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his doctrine of the " possible worlds ". The genius creates possible worlds, it is the Creator and thus virtually to God ( " poeta old deus " - the poet as a second God).

In England, the theoretical foundations of the cult of the genius were mainly determined by Shaftesbury. This in turn was inspired Immanuel Kant, who united the continental European and the English Genius term to a synthesis. In his Critique of Judgment, being the genius as the authority by which the nature of art prescribes the rule. In this way, Kant solves the old quarrel of the Querelle des Anciens et Modernes about art and nature. For Kant, therefore the Genius term refers only to artists, it can not be talking about a " brilliant scientist".

In the 19th century, the cult of genius subsided gradually and the term disappeared from the aesthetic in which instead artistic crafts, social factors, etc. came to the fore. In scientific discussions of the concept plays "genius" today as well as no longer relevant. In everyday parlance, it is, however, widespread.

The concept of genius today

Sometimes all people with an IQ above a certain limit ( for example, 130 or 145 ) are called geniuses.

Such a definition, however, is questionable, and passes by the nature of genius, since under a genius usually someone is understood to be superior mental benefits actually paid, while the intelligence quotient indicates only the capacity to provide this service. This intelligence alone is probably not decisive; Creativity, imagination and intuition are some other factors.

The psychoanalyst Phyllis Greenacre has observed that "extremely gifted people were often overwhelmed in childhood by particularly intense feelings, ideas or memories. These impressions were so alive and strong, that the children of astonishment, terror, awe, even ecstasy were seized, a kind of spiritual or religious experience did. " An especially good feature for maximum talent is likely to be a tremendous intensity, the characteristics of the giftedness and Green Acres observation concerns.

Wilhelm Lange - oak tree was the one who pointed out the need for a worshiper community, a high performance to the performance of a genius explains: In particular, but sustainable impact of the work is a requirement. As between the service itself and its recognition is often a very long period, inevitably arise from the fact for each and every genius brilliant performance problems that often lead to considerable social and health burdens. With outstanding performance without extensive reception is spoken by the misunderstood genius.

As a universal genius, for example, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as geniuses in their field, Johann Sebastian Bach, Miles Davis, Nicholas Copernicus, Salvador Dalí, Grigori Perelman, Pablo Picasso, William Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller, Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, John Coltrane, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Leonhard Euler, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Nikola Tesla, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ludwig van Beethoven called. The selection shows the dependence of the concept of genius on the cultural context: German -speaking persons are over-represented here. In many cases, such as Karl Marx, Lenin, Sigmund Freud and Theodor W. Adorno, however, there is no general agreement as to whether this person is to be regarded as a genius, because the assessment of these individuals is usually influenced by the personal political ideology of the beholder.

In art, the concept of genius is considered more critical today, and highlights the involvement of an artist or author in the historical and socio- intellectual context.

Psychology and sociology of genius

In the late 19th century was represented in particular by psychiatrists as Lombroso theorized as " madness " equate genius. This approach is less radical, represented by long - oak tree, the most famous genius theorist. So Extensively are the works between genius and mental disorder. As Geniologie is called the doctrine of the genial predispositions, their conditions and forms.

The genius about falling creative urge has actually resemblance to certain original and intellectually highly productive phases from the lighter psychopathological peripheral areas ( hypomanic phase fluctuations, visionary precursors of schizophrenia). Usually a distinction between genius and talent. The essence of genius can be seen in its original productivity, which opens up new creative areas from a safe intuition. The process of creation is determined by preconscious processes; if they can not run without restraint, there is no real creativity ( inner nature ). Thus, for example, characteristic of modernity, that a process of alienation from the inner nature through bureaucracy began etc.. This can be interpreted as an explanatory model, among other less frequently appearing genius. The persons who are victims of this development may be referred to as a " misunderstood genius". The living conditions of democratic modernity restrict their power delivery. It can thus be made between universal genius, geniuses and " misunderstood genius ". Genius can manifest itself in all areas - artistic, scientific, economic, philosophical, political, etc. The genius asserts itself against adverse life circumstances and shaped his world. A psychology of genius in terms of explanatory or -understand Deskription there is only in its infancy, especially the brilliant state of mind is the ordinary means limited access. In fact geniuses suffer from neuroses and mood swings. During the creative thought process run in parallel neurotic processes take place, such as the so-called ' poet madness ". Many brilliant people suffered in the course of their lives from a mental disorder (eg Nietzsche, Vincent van Gogh, Torquato Tasso, Jonathan Swift, John Forbes Nash Jr., ).

But if the life of the genius can be described as " disgusting ", then considered at the same time as regular -setting and creative way - creative zenith of human existence is not necessarily considered morbidly irregular, arbitrary exception, but sociologically. Ferdinand Tönnies ordered him to the " natural will " of the people.

The creative brain - psychological studies of creativity of genius

A genius idea that no one had before. In other words, a genius is creative. Mid-1990s, the psychologist Hans Eysenck expressed the conjecture creative achievements could be related to a particularly weak stimulus filtering in the brain ( see also: overstimulation ). This filter function in the brain helps people normally, from a wealth of impressions that picking out relevant to distinguish unimportant about security. If this filter is particularly permeable, which may be a prerequisite for unusual associations - a typical feature of creativity.

Creatives are more distractible

Shelly Carson of Harvard University in the U.S. has compared the brain function in particularly creative and less creative people and so confirmed Eysenck's theory. In this experiment the subjects were asked to solve different tasks, for example to them one after the other fancy words were played through headphones. You should focus on one of them and count how many times it occurred within a period staked. In addition, not only the imagination of words, but also background noise could be heard, which had not been announced to the participants in advance. The background noise should distract the subject.

The experiment yielded the result that Creative distracted stronger than less creative people. Carson explains this by saying that at a certain creative filter function in the brain is less pronounced, the latent inhibition so-called. This means that creative people are particularly sensitive to sensory stimuli. The wealth of information could be an explanation for the original links or innovative ideas. Especially creatively makes this reduced filter function in conjunction with a high IQ, because this guarantees that from the wealth of information actually only those reused that are currently used.