Imagination and Truth

In dialogue with contemporary continental and Anglo-American philosophers, John V. Garner explores the ancient idea that imagination can disclose something of our reality.

In dialogue with contemporary continental and Anglo-American philosophers, John V. Garner explores the ancient idea that imagination plays a fundamental role in the expression of reality.

Inspired in particular by Plato, Aristotle, Proclus, and Islamic Neoplatonism, this book argues that, far from merely a personal projection by the psyche, the act of imagining can also be a mode of creative discovery.

Examining the basic principles of this ancient understanding of imagination in the first chapter on Proclus, Garner then proceeds to test and redevelop the concept through engagements with seminal thinkers including Susanne K. Langer, Paul Ricoeur, Cornelius Castoriadis, Henry Corbin, Amy Kind, and others. Building a more nuanced picture of disclosive imagination, he analyzes such views as Langer's, on imagination's role in uncovering structures of everyday experience that transcend language, as well as significant debates surrounding poetic and scientific imagination in the works of Ricoeur, Castoriadis, and Corbin.

But what does this mean for creativity today? Far beyond a history of imagination, Imagination and Truth suggests several significant, practical consequences. For one, it allows for a fresh understanding of global traditions, cultures, and the arts as creating and disclosing truths we can learn from. Furthermore, it concludes with an urgent call for genuine public spaces – from public deliberative zones to educational spaces – which are crucial for enabling society to collectively discern and engage with the truths that imagination discloses.