Thinking Skills by Mary S. Eaton
Memories MSE Teaching Thinking Skills 3.5.01
From Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The Cycles of American History p. 422
“I do not suppose tat creativity in statecraft is essentially different from creativity in other fields. Let me, for purposes of illustration, offer a list of qualities required for creative statecraft—a list borrowed from a famous commentator on the French Revolution. The first requirement is Observation, “the ability to observe with accuracy thing as they are in themselves,” to know “whether the things depicted be actually present.” Next, Reflection, which teaches “the value of actions, images, thoughts, and feelings, and assists the sensibility in perceiving their connection with each other.” Then imagination, “to modify, to create, and to associate”; then Invention; and finally Judgment, “to decide how and where, and in what degree each of these faculties ought to be exerted.”
These qualities, raised to the highest level, make for genius, “the only proof (of which) is, the act of doing well what is worthy to be done, and what was never done before….
The reader will have guessed that I am quoting, not at all from a discourse on statecraft, but from Wordsworth’s Preface to the 1815 edition of his poems, where the one time enthusiast for the French Revolution was considering “the powers requisite for the production of poetry.” His analysis suggests that creativity in politics draws on similar powers and risks similar rebuffs.
From Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The Cycles of American History p. 422
“I do not suppose tat creativity in statecraft is essentially different from creativity in other fields. Let me, for purposes of illustration, offer a list of qualities required for creative statecraft—a list borrowed from a famous commentator on the French Revolution. The first requirement is Observation, “the ability to observe with accuracy thing as they are in themselves,” to know “whether the things depicted be actually present.” Next, Reflection, which teaches “the value of actions, images, thoughts, and feelings, and assists the sensibility in perceiving their connection with each other.” Then imagination, “to modify, to create, and to associate”; then Invention; and finally Judgment, “to decide how and where, and in what degree each of these faculties ought to be exerted.”
These qualities, raised to the highest level, make for genius, “the only proof (of which) is, the act of doing well what is worthy to be done, and what was never done before….
The reader will have guessed that I am quoting, not at all from a discourse on statecraft, but from Wordsworth’s Preface to the 1815 edition of his poems, where the one time enthusiast for the French Revolution was considering “the powers requisite for the production of poetry.” His analysis suggests that creativity in politics draws on similar powers and risks similar rebuffs.