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The Meanings of “Imagine” Part I: Constructive Imagination
Author(s) -
Van Leeuwen Neil
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00508.x
Subject(s) - constructive , perception , imagination , cognition , psychology , epistemology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , cognitive science , aesthetics , philosophy , computer science , process (computing) , neuroscience , operating system
In this article (Part I), I first clarify what the words “imagine,”“imagining,” and “imagination” can mean. Each has (a) a constructive sense, (b) an attitudinal sense, and (c) an imagistic sense. Keeping the senses straight in the course of cognitive theorizing is important for both psychology and philosophy. I then discuss the roles that perceptual memories, beliefs, and genre truth attitudes play in constructive imagination, or the capacity to generate novel representations that go well beyond what’s prompted by one’s immediate environment.