(CHLG, 1967: 478–483; DSB, 1981: 7:134). From Philoponus and his re-
sponse against Proclus’ last round of pagan critique, too, came the development
of new formal proofs of God, which would become the substance of later
rational theology. The whole pagan syncretism had fallen apart with the
triumph of Christianity; the elements which had been buried under the idealist
united front now were released again into general circulation.
Two Kinds of Creativity
Creativity is forced by changes in the structure of intellectual communities, like
fluid squeezed through the spaces as blocks shift their alignment. There are
two polar types of creativity: the creativity of fractionation as thinkers maxi-
mize their distinctiveness, and the creativity of synthesis as intellectuals makes
alliances among weakening positions or attempt to reduce a crippling overload
as factions exceed the law of small numbers. The grand philosophical systems
are the high points of the synthesizing dynamic. Here we find Aristotle forging
new analytical tools to reconcile the quarrels among the outpouring of schools
in the post-Socratic generation. Here is Plotinus blending the accumulated
sophistication of the long-standing schools into a rationalized pagan religious
philosophy to stand against the new menace of Christianity. The creativity of
the fractionalizers is more polemical and extremist. At its most brilliant, it rises
to the poetic visions of Heraclitus and Parmenides.
Synthesizers are necessarily dedicated to a vision of an overarching truth,
and display a generosity of spirit toward at least wide swaths of the intellectual
community. Each contributes partial views of reality, Aristotle emphasizes;
so does Plotinus, and Proclus even more widely with the ecumenism of his
bizarre coalition; even errors move us forward. Fractionalizers, with a con-
trasting spirit, are attached to their opponents only in a negative way. The
earliest Greek philosophers, moving into an empty field, create one doctrine
of cosmological elements after another. In much the same way the small
Gnostic sects move into a new religious space, proliferating particularistic
differences among themselves. Socrates too is a fractionalizer, blithely spinning
off possibilities with the prodigality of a colonizer of empty spaces. A high
degree of splitting in the field opens a slot for skepticism, attacking any
standard of truth at all; when this emerges as a doctrine, it is a sign of
overcrowding in the intellectual field.
One might suppose that fractionation and synthesizing would be symmet-
rical. When one organizational side of the field is growing stronger, its rivals
should be weakening. Thus we find the pagans from Plotinus to Proclus in the
synthesizing mode, while the aggrandizing Christians are busy with heresy
disputes. We shall see this reciprocal pattern between Hindus and Buddhists
Partitioning Attention Space: Ancient Greece^ •^131