Transformational Creativity in Science: A Graphical Theory

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Samuel Schapiro, Jonah Black, Lav R. Varshney

Published: 23 Jun 2025, Last Modified: 10 May 2026International Conference on Computational Creativity 2025EveryoneCC BY 4.0
Abstract: Creative processes are typically divided into three types: combinatorial, exploratory, and transformational. Here, we provide a graphical theory of transformational scientific creativity, synthesizing Boden’s insight that transformational creativity arises from changes in the “enabling constraints” of a conceptual space (Boden 1992) and Kuhn’s structure of scientific revolutions as resulting from paradigm shifts (Kuhn 1962). We prove that modifications made to axioms of our graphical model have the most transformative potential and then illustrate how several historical instances of transformational creativity can be captured by our framework.