Authors don’t create fiction from nothing; they combine existing ideas in new ways. When J.K. Rowling created Harry Potter, she drew from universal themes like magic, heroism, and good versus evil—concepts that have existed for centuries. These elements were reassembled into a unique narrative that feels both new and familiar. This process illustrates the concept of latent ideas, showing how fiction is crafted by reconfiguring timeless concepts into novel forms.
Exploring the boundaries of creativity not only stretches the limits of imagination but also deepens our wisdom about human potential and the nature of reality.
In “30 Philosophers,” it’s put it this way:
“All fiction exists within the material world and is therefore limited to and by it. Our imaginations are vast and originate from the possible. Irrational ideas are works of fiction and come from blending real things. Put simply, irrational ideas are made up of two or more ideas that break down to rational and/or empirical ideas. Through conceptual blending, we fuse ideas together, but not from a void, because we are explorers, not deities.”
From David Hume to Margaret Boden. In 1748, Hume’s take was that imagination recombines the materials of experience. Much later in 1998, Boden’s take was that modern creativity theory explains several ways genuinely novel ideas can emerge from existing conceptual materials and structures. My own work in 30 Philosophers in 2024, places that process inside a broader metaphysical claim—new configurations can be real and original, but minds do not create materials or possibilities from absolute nothing.
