The Limits of Imagination in Husserl


Sam S.

Studia Phaenomenologica, cilt.23, ss.15-32, 2023 (AHCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 23
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5840/studphaen2023232
  • Dergi Adı: Studia Phaenomenologica
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Central & Eastern European Academic Source (CEEAS), Philosopher's Index
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.15-32
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: free phantasy, Husserl, image-consciousness, imagination, phantasy
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper attempts to examine imagination with respect to its two poles and argues that in the phenomenological framework the locus of imagination is one between perception and ideation. Where imagination approaches perception we encounter the terminus a quo of imagination and therefore its lower limit and where it approximates ideation, we encounter its terminus ad quem and therefore its upper limit. In the former case we find the first form of imagination, which is the least articulated sense of imagination: image-consciousness. In the latter case we find the last form of imagination, which is the most articulated sense of imagination: free phantasy. On the one hand, then, image-consciousness is delineated from perception, and accordingly it is delineated from something that is determined. On the other hand, free phantasy is delineated from ideation, and as such it is delineated from something that is determining it. Situated between something that is determined and something that is determining it, the different forms of imagination can be said to have acquired different levels of freedom; imagination becomes freer the more it departs from perception and the more it approximates ideation.