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Full Idea
Imagination - a blind though indispensable function of the soul, without which we would have no cognition at all, but of which we are seldom even conscious.
Gist of Idea
We are seldom aware of imagination, but we would have no cognition at all without it
Source
Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B103/A78)
Book Ref
Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.211
A Reaction
I'm not sure why he calls it 'blind', since I can very deliberately control imagination. Neverthless, I applaud his recognition of imagination's central importance, even (I take it) in the simple act of looking out of the window.
| 24062 | Self-moving animals must have desires, and that entails having imagination [Aristotle] |
| 9098 | Mental activity combines what we sense with imagination of what is not present [Aquinas] |
| 1399 | Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind [Descartes] |
| 17260 | Imagination is just weakened sensation [Hobbes] |
| 7721 | Locke's view that thoughts are made of ideas asserts the crucial role of imagination [Locke] |
| 21806 | Memory, senses and understanding are all founded on the imagination [Hume] |
| 7647 | The imagination alone perceives all objects; it is the soul, playing all its roles [La Mettrie] |
| 22443 | We are seldom aware of imagination, but we would have no cognition at all without it [Kant] |
| 8094 | The imagination has made more discoveries than the eye [Joubert] |
| 14769 | Only imagination can connect phenomena together in a rational way [Peirce] |
| 14628 | Imagination is important, in evaluating possibility and necessity, via counterfactuals [Williamson] |
| 6901 | Understanding is needed for imagination, just as much as the other way around [Betteridge] |
| 11081 | Imagination grasps abstracta, generates images, and has its own correctness conditions [Hanna] |