<:> The paradox resolved?



For Boden, her way of framing the definition effectively resolves the creativity paradox (that creativity involves production of novelty in a world in which nothing can ever be really new).

A concept whose construction involves some element of transformation cannot be generated on the basis of existing mental representations. In this sense, it is mentally `impossible'.

Boden can then justify saying a concept is `new' on the grounds that it was previously `impossible'.

As she puts it `To justify calling an idea creative ... one must identify the generative principles with respect to which it is impossible.' (Boden, The Creative Mind, 1990, , p. 40)