In The Act of Creation‘ (1964) book by Arthur Koestler’ proposes what he calls eleven (11) “stages (levels) of subjectivity”, arranged as a continuum from objective description to fully subjective expression. The following list matches his intent very closely.
The Koestler’ idea is that the same human reality can be approached at progressively higher levels of subjectivity, where meaning, intention, and inner experience increasingly dominate over measurement and mechanism.
BELOW is a cleaned, structured rendering of the Koestler’ sequence, with brief clarification of what changes at each level.
Eleven (11) Level-stages of Subjectivity (from objective → subjective).
1. Chemistry
Matter treated as impersonal interactions
Atoms, molecules, reactions
No life, no purpose, no interiority
2. Biochemistry’
Chemistry organized by life
Enzymes, metabolism, regulation
Still largely mechanistic, but teleological hints appear
3. Biology
Living organisms as functional wholes
Adaptation, evolution, behavior
Purpose and survival become central concepts
4. Medicine
Biology centered on the human organism
Health, disease, suffering
First clear entry of value judgments (normal / abnormal)
5. Psychology
Subjective experience enters explicitly
Perception, emotion, intention, memory
Inner states are now primary data
6. Anthropology
The human mind embedded in culture
Symbols, rituals, social meaning
Individual psychology contextualized by group life
7. Biography
A single life as narrative’
Motivation, character, development through time
Meaning organized as a story
8. History
Collective human action over time
Interpretation, causation, moral perspective
Increasing dependence on the historian’s viewpoint
9. Novel
Interior consciousness rendered directly
Multiple viewpoints, empathy, imagination
Truth conveyed through felt experience
10. Epic
Individual lives integrated into mythic or civilizational meaning
Heroes, destiny, shared values
Time expanded beyond the personal
11. Lyric
Maximum subjectivity
Immediate, personal, often timeless expression
Emotion and meaning fused into form
Core Idea Behind the Hierarchy.
The Koestler’ central claim is not that higher levels are “less true,” but that:
Each level requires a different kind of truth.
Chemistry demands measurement.
Biology demands function.
Psychology demands. experience.
Literature demands empathy.
Trying to explain a lyric poem purely in biochemical terms is as misguided as diagnosing a disease using epic metaphor.
Why this mattered to Koestler’
This framework supports his larger themes:
Creativity as “bisociation” (crossing levels or frames)
Opposition to reductionism
Defense of art, literature, and meaning as cognitively legitimate
CONCLUSION.
Association is not Bisociation. This is because bisociate combines elements’ that are diametrically opposite. This creative act is not associative blend, or increment. Bisociation is a paradigmn shift, that is value creation, not simple association of items.
