2.4 Boden’s three modes

Margaret Boden distinguishes combinational, exploratory, and transformational creativity [ Boden , 1998 , 2004 ] . We use these as operational modes rather than mutually exclusive psychological essences.

Combinational creativity (C).

Previously registered objects or constructions are brought into a new typed relation. Analogy, conceptual blending, and reuse belong here, provided the combination is more than juxtaposition.

Exploratory creativity (E).

A system searches the possibilities generated by a fixed conceptual space. The rules remain stable while their consequences are explored. Theorem proving, program search, optimization, and many evolutionary procedures can be creative in this sense.

Transformational creativity (T).

The conceptual space’s generating rules change. New primitives, observers, constraints, equivalences, or forms of explanation become available. This is the mode most closely associated with a conceptual jump.

The modes often form a cycle rather than a taxonomy of disjoint episodes. A new combination opens an exploratory region; exploration reveals a stable obstruction; transformation changes the space; and the enlarged space admits new combinations.

. An infinitesimal probe can reveal that the current theory has reached a boundary. The jump across that boundary is a finite proposal \(\mathbb S\to \mathbb S^{+}\), not an infinitesimal update. Local diagnosis and global transformation therefore play different roles.