The Curious Life of Curiosity: The Motivational Force of Creativity

Reading about curiositá in How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb made me curious about curiosity. A cursory research of the literature on the "principle of curiosity" revealed the study of human curiosity is primarily a concern of philosophers, educators and scientists. Although the thinkers I reviewed ascribe curiosity as a naturally occurring human instinct, it is rarely considered independent of other impulses. Curiosity is usually attached to another concept; Curiosity and creativity; Curiosity and invention; Curiosity and survival. Ironically, the two colleagues I asked to describe the role curiosity plays in their lives reflected the associations of concepts mentioned above. After reading, discussing, and reflecting on curiosity, I am inclined to think of curiositá as an automatic physical response to life, like breathing. It happens whether it is cultivated or not. It is only through exposure to our environment that curiosity is either stimulated to the great heights of creativity and invention of Leonardo da Vinci or remains embryonic, restricted to preservation of life.

In Moral Philosophy, a text book for high school and college students, 19th century philosopher and educator Thomas Cogswell Upham writes, "a person utterly without curiosity would be deemed almost as strange and anomalous as a person without sensation. If curiosity be not natural to man, then it follows that the human mind is naturally indifferent to the objects that are presented to it, and to the discovery of truth... a state of things which could not be expected, and is not warranted by facts" (339). Humanness without curiosity is inconceivable for most people. In response to the question about the role curiosity in her life, my friend and colleague, anthropologist Luccia Rogers, simply said, "I couldn't live without it. I wouldn't be me." It was beyond her ability to image a continued existence if she were not engaged in seeking answers to the riddles, puzzles, and perplexities that surfaced daily from the great ocean of her curiosity.