Title: Novelty and its acceptance: an intersubjective perspective

Authors: Fu-Lai Tony Yu

Addresses: Department of Economics, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract: This article seeks to explain the acceptance of an innovation or a novel idea from a phenomenological perspective, with special reference to creativity in art. It argues that whether a new idea like cubism in oil painting, is accepted or not by the community is a matter of subjective interpretation. Based on human agency theories put forwarded by Max Weber and Alfred Schutz, this article uses the concept of intersubjective understanding to explain how innovative works are interpreted and accepted by the community. The phenomenological approach to understand an artwork is illustrated by oil paintings of Pablo Picasso. Implications regarding different types of innovations (namely, radical breakthrough vs. adaptive innovation and scientific innovation vs. creativity in art) in association with their community acceptance are discussed.

Keywords: intersubjective understanding; oil painting; Picasso; phenomenology; novelty; scientific innovation; novel ideas; creativity; art; agency theory; radical breakthrough; adaptive innovation; community acceptance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2008.019886

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2008 Vol.1 No.1, pp.119 - 130

Published online: 13 Aug 2008 *

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