Creativity, vanity and narcissism

Creativity matters. Many of humankind’s greatest achievements are the upshot of creativity. Education systems and organizations (allegedly) seek to cultivate creativity, while politicians and governments implement policies to facilitate it. Millions of human beings make choices that are only rational given that being creative is highly prized. From academics, scientists, artists, musicians and engineers to business people and the world of work, creative fulfillment is integral to the lives of many. Traditionally, philosophical work has tended to focus on defining creativity, the key processes or faculties involved and value questions. I will just assume here that an action is creative if it involves someone’s abilities and judgement in appropriate ways that issue in something new and valuable (Gaut 2010: 1040). Elsewhere, I have argued for a new approach that puts character centre stage, in particular arguing for a virtue theoretic approach to exemplary human creativity and what it is to be a creative person (Kieran 2014a and b). What follows is the development of a new challenge to such an approach. The challenge arises from the putative recognition that a degree of narcissism and vanity promotes people’s creativity. If so, the challenge goes, then the virtue theoretic approach to exemplary human creativity either cannot be right or becomes far less attractive in so far as the personal vice of vanity is a creative strength. Independently of how forceful the challenge is, addressing this in detail will force us to examine the nature of vanity and its implications for creative character in some detail.