Imagination: Cross-Cultural Philosophical Analyses is a rare intercultural inquiry into the conceptions and functions of the imagination in contemporary philosophy.
Divided into East Asian, comparative, and post-comparative approaches, it brings together a leading team of philosophers to explore the concepts of the illusory and illusions, the development of fantastic narratives and metaphors, and the use of images and allegories across a broad range of traditions. Chapters discuss how imagination has been interpreted by thinkers such as Zhuangzi, Plato, Confucius, Heidegger, and Nietzsche.
By drawing on sources including Buddhist aesthetics, Daoism, and analytic philosophy of mind, this cross-cultural collection shows how the imagination can be an indispensable tool for the comparative philosopher, opening up new possibilities for intercultural dialogue and critical engagement.
The imagination has been a generally underrated topic in Western philosophy, while in the East-Asian tradition-although philosophical thinking takes place largely in images and narratives-imagination hardly ever appears as a philosophical topic. This collection of (post-)comparative essays highlights the role of imagination in areas such as phenomenology and artistic creation, empathy and compassion, utopias and social imaginaries. Essays on East-Asian topics show how imagination functions philosophically even in the absence of theoretical reflection on the 'faculty' itself. The volume is highly recommended for the diversity of perspectives it brings to bear on its unjustly underrated topic.