Sozialwissenschaftliche Kreativität in der Ersten und in der Zweiten Republik

Abstract: In this article, a cognitive science-based exploration is conducted which leads into one of the most hotly debated issues in the area of science research, viz. into the problem of scientific creativity. Starting from the contemporary variety of theoretical approaches to creativity, the present article undertakes two different goals. First, it summarizes current findings on the prevailing creativity patterns in the social sciences in Austria, concentrating on the period between 1918 and 1933/34 and on the phase from 1945 to 1970/75. Second, it establishes, with the help of new approaches in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, a network-scheme for scientific creativity both at the micro- and at the macro-level. In doing so, it is hoped that the general, but thoroughly sound intuitions on the variability of themes as the "crux of creativity" (Douglas R. Hofstadter) can find a more concrete and more applicable conceptual framework for the actual studies and investigations of the cognitive dynamics within the scientific system.;