Embodied creativity. An epistemic inquiry into schizophrenia and autism

This contribution introduces the notion of “embodied creativity” in light of the psychopathological conditions of autism and schizophrenia, understood not as deficits but as embodied variations of subjectivity. Starting from the structural limitations of standard definitions and psychometric tools, the paper offers a critical analysis of quantitative evidence on divergent thinking in neurodivergent populations, integrating it with a phenomenological and aesthetic reading of creative practices. While autism manifests a systematic, perceptual, and hyper-detailed creativity, schizophrenia gives rise to expressive configurations that elude ordinary criteria of utility, yet reveal a cathartic and symbolic potential. In both cases, creativity emerges as an embodied and situated mode of exploration, inscribed in specific body–environment configurations. The paper argues that the epistemic investigation of autism and schizophrenia challenges the implicit universality of normative models and expands the very concept of creativity toward heterogeneous and transdisciplinary territories. From this perspective, embodied creativity is not a pathological deviation but an alternative form of knowledge that questions our categories of meaning, subjectivity, and otherness.