The World of the Imagination: Sum and Substance

843 Pages·2016·19.012 MB·English

by  Eva T. H. Brann

THE WORLD OF THE IMAGINATION
Supported hy a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, an independent federal agency.
THE WORLD OF THE
IMAGINATION
Sum and Substance
25 A e
th nniversAry dition
by
Eva T. H. Brann
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
ROWMAN & LITILEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
Copyright © 1991 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
25th Anniversary Edition 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
British Cataloging in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The 1991 hardback edition of this book was previously cataloged by the Library
of Congress as follows:
Brann, Eva T.H.
The world of the imagination sum and substance / Eva T.H. Brann.
p. cm.
Includes index.
I. Imagination (Philosophy) 2. Imagination (Philosophy)—History.
3. Imagination. 4. Imagery (Psychology) 5. Imagination in
literature. I. Title.
Bl05.I49B72 1990
153.3—dc20 90-48616 CIP
ISBN 978-1-4422-7363-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4422-7364-1 (electronic)
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
To Barry and Gretchen Mazur,
for moments of being
PARTS
One. Philosophy: Imagination
Two. Psychology: Imagery
Three. Logic: Images
Four. Literature: Imagining
Five. Depiction: Imaging
Six. World-Making: Imaginary and Imaginative Visions
Contents
Preface
Motives, Thesis, Approach, Topics, Format 3
Introduction 9
A. Exclusions 9
1. Postmodern Imagination 2. Imagination in the Near and
Far East 3. Hallucinogenic Imagery 4. Occult Imaginations
5. Image-Manipulation 6. Non-Visual Imagery 7. Image­
Formation
B. Emphases 15
1. The Excellence of Sight 2. The Primacy of the Inquiry into
the Visual Imagination
C. Meanings 17
1. Usages of Terms Concerning the Imagination
a. Imagination b. Fantasy 2. Definitions of the Imagination
3. Lauds and Praises
Part One
Philosophy: The Nature of the Imagination 29
Chapter I. Ancient Writers 35
A. Plato: The Power of Image-Recognition 35
B. Aristotle: The Process of Appearance-Presentation 40
C. Stoics: The Affection of Appearance-Apprehension 46
D. Epicureans: Subtle Simulacra 48
vii
V111 Contents
E. Plotinus: Internal Mirror 48
F. Neoplatonists: Autonomous Phantasy 50
G. Augustine: Mediating Imagination 51
Chapter II. Medieval Writers 57
A. Mainstream: Vis Imaginativa and Its Sources 57
B. Culmination: Thomas Aquinas 62
C. Renaissance: Pico della Mirandola, Charron, Bacon 64
Chapter m. Modern Writers 69
A. Descartes: The Interface of Extension and Mind 70
B. Hobbes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley: The Imagination
Displaced 78
C. Hume: The All-Inclusive Imagination 82
D. Kant: The Transcendental Meeting-Ground 89
E. Fichte: The Ego's World-Producing Power 100
F. Hegel: The Representational Stage of Spirit 103
G. Kierkegaard: The Infinitized or Fantastical Imagination 107
H. Peirce: The Denial of Mental Images 108
I. Dilthey: Imagination as Lived Experience 109
J. Meinong: The Intuitivity of Imaginative Representations 110
K. Bergson: The Image as a Space-Time Intercept 112
Chapter IV. 'l\ventieth-Century Writers (with Debates
and Developments) 119
A. Phenomenology and Existentialism: The Attack on
Immanence 120
0. Heidegger: Imagelessness 1. Husserl: Fancy as Unposited
Presentification. Debate 2. Sartre: Images as Posited
Nothingness. Debate 3. Developments: Merleau-Ponty,
Casey, Ricoeur, M. Johnson
B. Analytic Philosophy and Philosophy of Mind: The Attack
on In.wardness 156
1. Wittgenstein: Imagination as Aspect-Seeing. Debate
2. Ryle: Imagination as Pretending. Debate 3. Developments:
Williams, Scruton, J. Furlong
Contents IX
C. Neoromanticism: Imagination as the Humanizing Faculty 180
1. Bachelard: The Valorizing Imagination 2. Lefe bve: The
Fascinating Image
D. Philosophical Anthropology: The Human Significance of
the Imagination 184
Chapter V. Conclusions: Why an Image-Forming
Imagination Should, After All, Be Affirmed 193
Part 'I\vo
Psychology: The Having of Imagery 207
Chapter I. Cognitive Science: The Setting oflmagery-
lnvestigations 211
A. Consciousness 213
B. Representation 217
C. Direct Perception 222
1. Ecological Optics 2. Illusions 3. Imagery
Chapter II. The Science of Mental Imagery:
Cognitive Psychology 229
A. Psychology as Science 230
1. The First Phase: Introspection and Immediate Experience
2. Three Fundamental Characteristics Required by Any
Physics-like Science of Cognition 3. How These Features
Appear in the Science of Mental Imagery 4. The Picture­
Metaphor
B. Experimental Discoveries about Mental Imagery 237
1. The Use oflmagery 2. The Space-likeness of Visual
Imagery 3. The Mental Imagery Medium 4. The
Generation and Fading of Mental Imagery 5. The
Computational Model of Mental Imagery
C. The Interpretation of the Findings Concerning Mental
Imagery 250
1. The Setting of the Imagery-Debate 2. The Formulation of
the Mental Imagery Issue 3. The Two Mental Codes