Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:55:56.892Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mental imagery and fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Dustin Stokes
Dustin Stokes*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
*
Dustin Stokes dustin.stokes@utah.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fictions evoke imagery, and their value consists partly in that achievement. This paper offers analysis of this neglected topic. Section 2 identifies relevant philosophical background. Section 3 offers a working definition of imagery. Section 4 identifies empirical work on visual imagery. Sections 5 and 6 criticize imagery essentialism, through the lens of genuine fictional narratives. This outcome, though, is not wholly critical. The expressed spirit of imagery essentialism is to encourage philosophers to ‘put the image back into the imagination’. The weakened conclusion is that while an image is not essential to imagining, it should be returned to our theories of imagination.

Keywords

Imageryimaginationfictionnarrativelanguage processingimagery essentialism
Type
Original Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 49 , Issue 6 , September 2019 , pp. 731 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bayne, T., and Montague, M., eds. 2012. Cognitive Phenomenology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bergen, B., Lindsay, S., Matlock, T., and Narayanan, S.. 2007. “Spatial and Linguistic Aspects of Visual Imagery in Sentence Comprehension.” Cognitive Science: A Multidisciplinary Journal 31: 733–764. 10.1080/03640210701530748CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borst, G., and Kosslyn, S.. 2010. “Individual Differences in Spatial Mental Imagery.” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 63 (10 ): 2031–2050. 10.1080/17470211003802459CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briscoe, R. 2011. “Mental Imagery and the Varieties of Amodal Perception.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 92 (2 ): 153–173. 10.1111/papq.2011.92.issue-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J., and Cappelen, H., eds. 2011. Assertion: New Philosophical Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butterfill, S. A., and Sinigaglia, C.. 2014. “Intention and Motor Representation in Purposive Action.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88 (1): 119–145. 10.1111/phpr.2014.88.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carruthers, P., and Smith, P. K., eds. 1996. Theories of Theories of Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, D. 2002. “Does Conceivability Entail Possibility? ” In Conceivability and Possibility, edited by Gendler, T. and Hawthorne, J., 145–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cooperau, L., and Shepard, R.. 1973. “The Time Required to Prepare for a Rotated Stimulus.” Memory & Cognition 1: 246–250. 10.3758/BF03198104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, G. 1990. The Nature of Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511897498CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, G. 1997. “The Paradox of Caring: Fiction and the Philosophy of Mind.” In Emotion and the Arts, edited by Hjort, M. and Laver, S., 63–77. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Currie, G., and Ravenscroft, I.. 2002. Recreative Minds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238089.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, M., and Stone, T., eds. 1995a. Folk Psychology. Cambridge: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Davies, M., and Stone, T., eds. 1995b. Mental Simulation. Cambridge: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. 1988. “Quining Qualia.” In Consciousness in Modern Science, edited by Marcel, A. and Bisiach, E., 42–77. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Friend, S. 2008. “Imagining Fact and Fiction.” In New Waves in Aesthetics, edited by Stock, K. and Thomson-Jones, K., 150–169. Palgrave-Macmillan. 10.1057/9780230227453CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friend, S. 2012. “Fiction as a Genre.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Hardback) 112: 179–209. 10.1111/pash.2012.112.issue-2pt2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallese, V. 2000. “The Inner Sense of Action. Agency and Motor Representations.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (10 ): 23–40.Google Scholar
Gaut, B. 2003. “Reasons, Emotions, and Fictions. ” In Imagination, Philosophy, and the Arts, edited by Kieran, M. and McIver Lopes, D.. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gendler, T. 2000. “The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance.” The Journal of Philosophy 97 (2): 55–81. 10.2307/2678446CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gendler, T. 2003. “On the Relation Between Pretense and Belief.” In Imagination, Philosophy, and the Arts, edited by Kieran, M. and Lopes, D., 125–141. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gendler, T., and Hawthorne, J., eds. 2002. Conceivability and Possibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gregory, D. 2010. “Imagery, the Imagination and Experience.” The Philosophical Quarterly 60 (241): 735–753. 10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.644.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, D. 2016. “Imagination and Mental Imagery.” In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination, edited by Kind, A., 97–110. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harman, G. 1990. “The Intrinsic Quality of Experience.” Philosophical Perspectives 4: 31–52. 10.2307/2214186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, R. 2012. “What Perky did not Show.” Analysis 72 (3): 431–439. 10.1093/analys/ans063CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, W. 1890. Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 10.1037/11059-000Google Scholar
Jeannerod, M. 2001. “Neural Simulation of Action: A Unifying Mechanism for Motor Cognition.” NeuroImage 14 (1): S103–S109. 10.1006/nimg.2001.0832CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeannerod, M. 1998. The Neural and Behavioural Organization of Goal-Directed Movements. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kind, A. 2001. “Putting the Image Back in Imagination.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62: 85–109. 10.1111/phpr.2001.62.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosslyn, S., Reiser, B., and Ball, T.. 1978. “Visual Images Preserve Metric Spatial Information: Evidence from Studies of Image Scanning.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 4 (1): 47–60.Google ScholarPubMed
Kozhevnikov, M., and Blazhenkova, O.. 2012. “Individual Differences in Object versus Spatial Imagery: From Neural Correlates to Real-World Applications.” In Multisensory Imagery, edited by Lacey, S. and Lawson, R., 299–318. Springer.Google Scholar
Locke, J. 1690/2004. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Edited by Woolhouse, R.. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Lopes, D. 2003. “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” In Imagination, Philosophy, and the Arts, edited by Kieran, M. and Lopes, D., 208–224. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Matthen, M. 2005. Seeing, Doing, and Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/0199268509.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nanay, B. 2010. “Perception and Imagination: Amodal Perception as Mental Imagery.” Philosophical Studies 150 (2 ): 239–254. 10.1007/s11098-009-9407-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nanay, B. 2015. “Perceptual Content and the Content of Mental Imagery.” Philosophical Studies 172 (7 ): 1723–1736. 10.1007/s11098-014-0392-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nanay, B. 2016. “Hallucination as Mental Imagery.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 23: 65–81.Google Scholar
Nanay, B. Forthcoming. “Perception and Mental Imagery in Our Engagement with Art.” In Art and Philosophy, edited by Mag Uidhir, C.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nichols, S., ed. 2006. The Architecture of the Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, S., and Stich, S.. 2000. “A Cognitive Theory of Pretense.” Cognition 74: 115–147. 10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00070-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, S., and Stich, S.. 2003. Mindreading. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/0198236107.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, J., and Westbrook, F.. 2015. “Phantom Perception: Voluntary and Involuntary Nonretinal Vision.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19 (5): 278–284. 10.1016/j.tics.2015.03.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perky, C. W. 1910. “An Experimental Study of Imagination.” The American Journal of Psychology 21: 422–452. 10.2307/1413350CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Place, U. T. 1956. “Is Consciousness a Brain Process? ” British Journal of Psychology 47: 44–50. 10.1111/bjop.1956.47.issue-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poltrock, S., and Brown, P.. 1984. “Individual Differences in Visual Imagery and Spatial Ability.” Intelligence 8 (2): 93–138. 10.1016/0160-2896(84)90019-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, A., and Craver-Lemley, C.. 2012. “Unmasking the Perky Effect: Spatial Extent of Image Interference on Visual Acuity.” Frontiers in Psychology 3: 1–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rizzolatti, G., and Sinigaglia, C.. 2008. Mirrors in the Brain: How Our Minds Share Actions, Emotions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shields, C. 2016. “Aristotle’s Psychology.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Zalta, E. N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/aristotle-psychology/.Google Scholar
Segal, S. J. 1971. “Processing of the Stimulus in Imagery and Perception.” In Imagery: Current Cognitive Approaches, edited by Segal, S. J., 69–100. New York: Academic Press. 10.1016/B978-0-12-635450-8.50011-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segal, S. J. 1972. “Assimilation of a Stimulus in the Construction of an Image: The Perky Effect Revisited.” In The Function & Nature of Imagery, edited by Sheehan, P., 203–230. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Siegel, S., and Silins, N.. 2015. “The Epistemology of Perception.” In Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Perception, edited by Matthen, M., 781–811. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stock, K. 2013. “Imagining and Fiction: Some Issues.” Philosophy Compass 8 (10): 887–896. 10.1111/phc3.v8.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, D. 2006. “Art and Modal Knowledge.” In Knowing Art: Essays in Epistemology and Aesthetics, edited by Lopes, D. and Kieran, M., 67–81. London: Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4020-5265-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, D., and Biggs, S.. 2014. “The Dominance of the Visual.” In Perception and Its Modalities, edited by Stokes, D., Matthen, M. and Biggs, S., 350–378. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199832798.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepard, R. N., and Metzler, J.. 1971. “Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects.” Science 171: 701–703. 10.1126/science.171.3972.701CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, N. J. T. 2016. “Mental Imagery.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Zalta, E. N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/mental-imagery/.Google Scholar
Thompson, E. 2008. “Representationalism and the Phenomenology of Mental Imagery.” Synthese 160 (2 ): 203–213. 10.1007/s11229-006-9110-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titchener, E. B. 1909. Lectures on the Experimental Psychology of the Thought-Processes. New York: Macmillan. 10.1037/10877-000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tye, M. 1991. The Imagery Debate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Van Leeuwen, N. 2013. “The Meanings of “Imagine” Part I: Constructive Imagination.” Philosophy Compass 8 (3 ): 220–230. 10.1111/phco.2013.8.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, K. 1978. “Fearing Fictions.” The Journal of Philosophy 75 (1 ): 5–27. 10.2307/2025831CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, K. 1990. Mimesis as Make-Believe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wundt, W. 1912. An Introduction to Psychology. London: George Allen. 10.1037/13784-000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yablo, S. 1993. “Is Conceivability a Guide to Possibility? ” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 53 (1 ): 1–42. 10.2307/2108052CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeman, A., Dewar, M., and Della Sala, S.. 2015. “Lives Without Imagery – Congenital Aphantasia.” Cortex 73: 378–380. 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed