Call for Papers on Imagination for the summer 2025 issue
Submission deadline: May 31st
Few concepts in the history of philosophy or science are as rich, polysemic and mysterious as imagination. That “art concealed in the depths of the human soul” as Kant said, is indeed a fundamental concept in philosophy, namely in philosophy of knowledge, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of science, modal epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of art, ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of mind and so on.
As it happens with all philosophical concepts, the concept of imagination has an history and a controversial heritage. Present in all great philosophical traditions, both continental and analytical, the concept of imagination has been specially worked out by such figures as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Pascal, Spinoza, David Hume, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Peirce, William James, Husserl, Bachelard, Gilbert Ryle, Wittgenstein, Sartre or Ricoeur.
Maybe, the centrality of the concept of imagination is a symptom of the apologetic regime of the new which we live under today. A regime which wants to ensure, at all costs, that the new is possible, whether in science, in technology, in arts, in politics, in or everyday life. And maybe, the attention that imagination attracts today from so many philosophers, scientists, politicians, and artists is due to the fact that it is a wild, savage force that carries with it the promise of new possibilities.
We believe in the importance of continuous research on the concept of imagination. And, in this sense, we can no longer accept excuses and magic words to try to explain imagination.
Here are some examples of the questions we would like to address:
- Is imagination a productive force? If so, what are its guidelines?
- Is it true that there are "two cultures" of imagination?
- Is imagination devoid or beyond of morality?
- Is it possible to construct a theory of "propositional imagination"?
- What is the role of imagination in thinking the future of societies?
- Is imagination exclusive for humans, where the machines are excluded?
