Creative Thinking and the Power of Ideas

Start date 28-Apr-10 - 7:30 AM
End date 26-May-10 - 8:45 AM
Venue Melbourne Business School
Address
MLR 1 + 2
200 Leicester Street
Carlton, VIC
Australia
[ Gmaps marker icon ]
Status Closed
RSVP 21-Apr-10
Cost $160 for the series of five breakfasts
Contact m.charles@mbs.edu
Registration Closed

This series is now fully subscribed.  To register your interest in the next series please email Megan Charles via m.charles@mbs.edu. 

Returning by popular demand, after two successfully sold-out breakfast series, MBS's Philosopher-in-Residence, John Armstrong will present his new series 'Creative Thinking and the Power of Ideas.'

From Cicero’s ‘Rome is not a place, Rome is an idea, living in the minds of men’ to  Kennedy’s ‘We’re gonna go to the moon’ one can see that behaviour is hugely influenced by what is inside people’s heads – by ideas. Ideas are changeable, they can be more or less clear and distinct; ideas are made and transmitted. 

But it is often extremely difficult (to speak less politely, maddening) to develop one’s own ideas. This five-part breakfast series looks at some central strategies of thinking – which are directed at getting clear about what one thinks.  That is, about developing ideas from an embryonic or confused beginning to a clearer and more powerful maturity.

Week One (Wednesday 28 April): Dealing with vagueness – the task of definition; the major strategies of definition: (a) common factor/essence; (b) family resemblance; (c) pursuit of an ideal; These strategies have huge implications for how we think about open questions – e.g. what is love, education, happiness, success, progress. And these open questions are significant from many practical questions: what enables some businesses to succeed better than others; what is the relationship between money and happiness. 

John will look at the counter-intuitive notion that the important ideas already exist – we need to find them, not create them.  Think of the classic statement by Michelangelo: the statue is already in the block, I have to let it out.

Week Two (Wednesday 5 May): Ideas Ambition – how does an idea go from the edge of one’s mind towards the centre? What makes it more important? What is the career of an idea: from humble beginnings to the commanding heights. Historically, we can trace the rise and fall (and sometimes resurrection) of ideas like ‘politeness’ or ‘dignity’ or ‘nature’. What lessons do these point for ideas still in formation today?

John will pay special attention to the project of exclusive, rather than inclusive definitions and discuss the Machiavellian approach to ideas – can we distinguish between good and bad ‘thought leadership’?

Week Three (Wednesday 12 May): The friendship of ideas: how to think about ideas you don’t find sympathetic (what would it be like to find this idea exciting? How could a nice and decent person think that?) – What do ideas need from each other? How open can your mind be, and still be your mind?

Week Four (Wednesday 19 May): The pride and prejudice of myth: much of the time we don’t really think; we trade in myths – we work with received opinions that sounds quite plausible, but which we don’t examine. A myth is (in a sense) a working assumption of a community – which does not entail that it is true, but does entail that it is powerful. Can we learn to see when a myth is operative, and when it is harmful. How does one work against a myth?

Week Five (Wednesday 26 May): Inspiration: where do important ideas come from? Inspiration is a ‘magical’ term – it identifies and effect (someone comes up with a great idea) and assigns it to no cause; or invents a cause for the occasion. But nor does it seem right – or kind – to say that there is no mystery here, that what looks like inspiration is simply a matter of hard work behind the scenes. So, can we arrive at some enlightenment here?

This series will be held at Melbourne Business School over five consecutive weeks between 7.30am - 8.45am.

** Attendees must purchase the block and attend all five sessions - individual registration to sessions is not available. **

Feedback

"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the recent series of Philosophy breakfasts. I appreciated the warm welcome, the setting and the very stimulating presentations/discussions.

John A – I particularly admired your skill in making your topics accessible to your audience – the element of humour and the way you brought yourself into how you delivered the material (loved the ‘confessionals’!).  All very stimulating and enjoyable.   Thank YOU.  The philosophy breakfasts have been a very positive way for me to reconnect with the School."

Dr Janet Fitzell - Director, FourLeaf Consulting