Imagination and Philosophy of Mind: Descartes, Hobbes, Locke

Abstract

Imagination is a two-sided faculty: on the one hand, it is the beginning of the mind, which is not reduced to what is simply given in sensation, but forms images and is able to retain the image of what has been perceived, or even to form this image in the absence of the perceived object. On the other hand, it is the extension, more or less altered, of sensation and experience, and therefore of corporeality. From this point of view, the imagination plays a central role in thinking about the union or unity of body and mind. Nevertheless, it can also help to show that these notions of union and unity do not always go hand in hand: if the imagination can be understood as the expression of a soul united to a body, it makes their difference quite obvious. More generally, it leads to questioning the very meaning of unity, and the way in which it is expressed.