Repository | Book | Chapter
(2018) The theatre of imagining, Dordrecht, Springer.
This chapter examines two of the earliest accounts of imagination. One is presented by Plato—who observes imagination as part of his ontological and epistemological hierarchy and as an integral part of his aesthetics. The other is presented by Aristotle, who recognizes imagination as a key cognitive faculty. Both philosophers conceived imagination as mirroring, or reflecting, reality. In this manner, they both contributed to the long-lasting conception of imagination as a mirror. When Aristotle defined imagination as a mental faculty, it was further defined as a messenger, mediating between sensation and reason. Kallenbach discusses the main issues involved in these early conceptions of imagination, which present imagination as an inherently complex and dubious faculty that plays into both ontological, epistemological, cognitive, ethical and aesthetic aspects.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76303-3_2
Full citation:
Kallenbach, U. (2018). The mirror and the messenger, in The theatre of imagining, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 29-42.
This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment.