Workshop "Creativity, innovation, exaptation" organised by M. Lequin 12 dec 9h-17h

Organisation: Mathilde Lequin (Université de Bordeaux / CNRS)

 with the support of :

Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Bordeaux (CNRS, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, université de Bordeaux)

GPR Human Past (Université de Bordeaux)

Teams EVODIBIO and SYMBOL, PACEA (UMR5199, Université de Bordeaux / CNRS / Ministère de la Culture)

 Venue: Salle Bordes, MSH, 10 Esp. des Antilles, 33600 Pessac

 

This two-day interdisciplinary workshop will involve researchers from the fields of paleoanthropology, archeology, primatology, neurosciences and philosophy of science

  Day 1: "Creativity, innovation, exaptation" – December 12, 2023

 

This first workshop deals with the possible uses of the notion of creativity to understand humans in their biological and cultural evolution, in their natural history as well as in that of material cultures, techniques or artistic practices. It is open to all disciplinary fields in which creativity can provide a key to understanding living beings, and humans in particular, in the long term or in recent periods.

We propose to understand creativity as a critical tool, allowing us to question the different ways of conceiving what appears to be a "novelty". The challenge is to test the notion of creativity against concrete case studies in order to clarify the way in which it allows us to take a different look at the mechanisms and manifestations of change, whether it be changes in anatomy, physiology, behaviour or cognition.

The aim of this day is to highlight, based on issues from different fields of study, elements of answers to the following questions:

• How does creativity arise? How does creativity lead to consolidating new knowledge and new practices?
• What traces can be used to identify and interpret it, in the archaeological and palaeontological record?
• What are the mechanisms that explain the emergence of novelty?
• Are the processes of adaptation, exaptation and accumulation drivers of creativity?

 

Program – December 12, 2023:

9-12 am: invited talks by Francesco d’Errico (PACEA, CNRS/Université de Bordeaux), François Druelle (HNHP, CNRS/Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle) and Andra Meneganzin (Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, KU Leuven)

2-5 pm: short talks, round-tables and synthesis