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  • "Janusian thinking"—the capacity to conceive and utilize two or more opposite or contradictory ideas, concepts, or images simultaneously—is discussed in relation to its role in the creative process in art, literature, architecture, music, science, and mathematics. I feel that understanding the psychological factors in creativity should be of importance in the theory and everyday practice of the art of psychotherapy.

    --Albert Rothenberg, 1971, "The Process of Janusian Thinking in Creativity", Archives of General Psychiatry 24(3): 195

    November 15, 2009

  • Thanks you, I love the concept and finally I have a name for it.

    Which pronunciation do you native-speakers prefer:

    /dʒeɪˈnuʃən/, /dʒeɪˈnuʃiən/, /dʒeɪˈnusiən/ or even /dʒəˈnuʃən/?

    November 15, 2009

  • I've never heard it pronounced, but I'd follow the pattern of Venusian.

    November 15, 2009

  • Although in the case of Venusian, you have to give some note to the fact that the city's name was once Venusia, now Venezia.

    November 16, 2009

  • 'a part is a whole is a part'... Arthur Koestler's Act of Creation 1964 p 467-8... 'the 'Janus principle' in organic hierarchies.' see holarchy

    November 16, 2009

  • And that Venusian has lots of different pronunciations. In fact I used this very word to copy in the IPA. ;-)

    November 16, 2009