Imagination

Amy Kind author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Publishing:16th Dec '26

£171.99

This title is due to be published on 16th December, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Imagination cover

Imagination plays a central role in key debates across a range of philosophical subjects including philosophy of mind, aesthetics, ethics, and epistemology. What is imagination, and how can we best account for its nature? How does imagination relate to other mental states like belief, desire, perception, and memory? What role does it play in epistemic, creative, and ethical contexts?

In this excellent and wide-ranging survey of imagination, Amy Kind addresses these questions and more, with a focus on key topics including:

  • three leading theories of imagination
  • the importance of imagination for decision-making, planning, and knowledge acquisition
  • the connection between imagination and creativity
  • the role of imagination in our engagement with fiction, and several puzzles to which this engagement gives rise
  • how imagination contributes to our understanding of others
  • the ethical assessment of imaginative activities, and particularly the activity of fantasizing
  • The future of imagination.

With the addition of chapter summaries, annotated further reading, and a glossary of key terms, Imagination is essential reading not only for those studying imagination for the first time but also for more advanced students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, aesthetics, and ethics.

'Kind offers an exceptional introduction to the philosophy of imagination, its history, and its interdisciplinary significance. The book expertly weaves together and organizes the different strands of a rapidly-expanding subfield, and shows how philosophical examination of imagination can illuminate debates in ethics, art, epistemology, cognitive science, and elsewhere.' - Luke Roelofs, University of Texas at Arlington, USA

'A timely contribution to philosophy of imagination that will be of interest to newcomers and specialists alike. It combines an authoritative account of the field’s current state with a compelling defense of the “imagery theory” of imagination, which has not received the sustained scholarly attention it deserves since its original development. The book thus provides both an illuminating overview of relevant literature and fills a central gap within it.' - Daniel Munro, Boston University, USA


'Kind offers an exceptional introduction to the philosophy of imagination, its history, and its interdisciplinary significance. The book expertly weaves together and organizes the different strands of a rapidly-expanding subfield, and shows how philosophical examination of imagination can illuminate debates in ethics, art, epistemology, cognitive science, and elsewhere.' - Luke Roelofs, University of Texas at Arlington, USA

'A timely contribution to philosophy of imagination that will be of interest to newcomers and specialists alike. It combines an authoritative account of the field’s current state with a compelling defense of the “imagery theory” of imagination, which has not received the sustained scholarly attention it deserves since its original development. The book thus provides both an illuminating overview of relevant literature and fills a central gap within it.' - Daniel Munro, Boston University, USA

ISBN: 9780367000653

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

252 pages