Theory Of Imagination Research Articles

Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity. By Neil Van Leeuwen

Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity. By Neil Van Leeuwen

Imagined interventions: Critical-ideational strategies across multiple futures in public interest scenarios

This paper examines the critical-ideational strategies of public interest scenario projects seeking to intervene in urgent problems related to democracy, development, peacebuilding, and climate change. As cultural technologies for foresight in turbulent times, scenario methodologies direct attention to the temporal multiplicity and contingency of action; they engage diverse ensembles of actors in challenging conversations to identify alternative ways in which futures could unfold. These methods are grounded in pragmatist and phenomenological theories of time and imagination. However, they are not merely speculative exercises, but make political-normative interventions that attribute blame for problems and credit for solutions to state, market, or civil society actors. By distributing responsibility across temporally multi-pronged narratives, these projects stake out positions on the long-term trajectories of capitalism and democracy. Through a textual analysis of the allocation of blame and credit in 29 scenario projects focused on the African context (1991–2017), we examine how coalitions of local and transnational actors harness the uncertainty and multiplicity of futures to imagine, critique, and affirm different kinds of sociopolitical interventions. We compare how different “genres” of scenario projects refract the future into story-sets of continuity, constraint, collapse, and transformation. This temporal splitting enables them to wrestle with trade-offs and incorporate diverging perspectives while making strong overarching claims about the desirability of certain lines of action over others. In this way, scenario coalitions position themselves in relation to core debates about the relative role of the public, private, and civic sectors in causing and responding to the crises of our times.

A Failed Reactivation of Enlightenment Criticism of Religion by Van Leeuwen: Content, Not Cognitive Attitude, Makes the Difference between Factual Beliefs and Religious Credence

The subject of this article is a critique of the philosophy of religion presented by Neil Van Leeuwen in his Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity. The article rejects his main title thesis that religion is make-believe. Van Leeuwen assumes that a religious individual has a cognitive attitude for religious content that is different from an attitude for factual beliefs. In this article, Van Leeuwen’s concept is rejected. What distinguishes religious beliefs from factual beliefs is the difference in content, not cognitive attitudes.

The Influence Aesthetic Processes Can Have on Daycare Children's Play

AbstractThis article argues for a reconceptualisation of early childhood education, where learning and development are not only valued by outcome, and aims to investigate how aesthetic processes are organised in ways for the children to be inspired, to compare, explore, and play. Inspired by a Vygotsky perspective and his theories of play, imagination, and creativity, the article argues for developmental perspectives where transformation is driven by different kinds of experiences that lead to sustained change and not a one‐sided passing of instructions from teacher to child. Drawing on ethnographic material from a qualitative research project implemented in Danish daycares, where an artist visited over a 3‐month period, shows specific patterns in how the children are engaging in aesthetic processes and multiple ways that joint activities inspire the children to play. The research reveals new insights into the relationship between aesthetic processes and play, as it facilitates the exploration of not only the many layers of aesthetics but also how participation in joint activities enables the aesthetic process to become a cultural frame of reference that is used in Play.

The disencapsulated mind: A premotor theory of human imagination.

Our premodern ancestors had perceptual, motoric, and cognitive functional domains that were modularly encapsulated. Some of these came to interact through a new type of cross-modular binding in our species. This allowed previously domain-dedicated, encapsulated motoric and sensory operators to operate on operands for which they had not evolved. Such operators could at times operate nonvolitionally, while at other times they could be governed volitionally. In particular, motoric operations that derive from the same circuits that compute hand motions for object manipulation could now be retooled for virtual manipulation in a mental workspace in the absence of any physical hand or other effector movements. I hypothesize that the creativity of human imagination and mental models is rooted in premotor simulation of sequential manipulations of objects and symbols in the mental workspace, in analogy with the premotor theory of attention, which argues that attention evolved from "internalized" eye movement circuitry. Overall, operator "disencapsulation" led to a bifurcation of consciousness in humans: a concrete form centered on perception of the body in the physical world and an abstract form focused on explanatory mental models. One of the consequences of these new abilities was the advent of psychotic disorders that do not exist in species possessed solely of the concrete type of consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Instant Futures: an experimental study of the imagination of alternative near futures thanks to science fiction

Following Vygotsky's seminal work, sociocultural psychology has developed a powerful theory of imagination, considered as a process with mutual and transformative impacts with the social world. In this paper, we focus on the imagination of the future, which is an arena of special social and political contestation. We argue for integrating experimental methods into the scientific study of the re-composition, or synthesis process, in the imagination of the future. Provoking the imagination of the future in well-structured conditions allows for intra and interpersonal comparisons, as well as for comparisons through time. We introduce an experimental task, a "protokool", inspired by the work of a French group of science fiction writers, “le collectif Zanzibar”; we also suggest a way to analyse the data collected through this "telescope into the imagination of the future" looking at a specific process of imagining the future in dystopian and utopian ways. Finally, we present some main findings from the analysis of a corpus of 186 narratives collected in a 4-year study with Bachelor students in psychology and education. We show that the process of imagining the future is asymetrical for dystopian and utopian futures. We also point at some major patterns in these imaginations of the future, and evolutions over the four years. The research has theoretical and methodological implications for the study of the imagination of the future in sociocultural psychology.

Missiological approach to Migration and Mission in Pentecostalism: a Pneumatological Missional Imagination

While much has been written on the intersections of migration and mission, little has been developed regarding theoretical frameworks for approaching the subject from the discipline of missiology. This calls for the development of a framework that will assist in the missiological approach to migration and mission. However, there is a need for the recognition of the current missiological approaches to migration and mission to identify the existing gaps such as relevancy to Pentecostalism. To fill this gap, this article brings together three theories of pneumatological imagination, missiological spirit, and missional imagination to develop a pneumatological missional imagination. The findings are, that a pneumatological missional imagination is relevant for dealing with some of the challenges in migration and mission in Pentecostalism such as the inability to minister relevantly to the host countries, cultural differences, and orientation to the mission of God. These challenges are outlined by using the Apostolic Faith Mission Ministry International in the United Kingdom (AFMIMUK) as a case study. The pneumatological missional imagination is relevant for witnessing to others, speaking foreign languages, and orientation to the mission of God. therefore, a pneumatological missional imagination is relevant as a missiological approach to the intersections of migration and mission in Pentecostalism.

Getting lucid about lucid dreaming

Abstract Lucid dreams are a distinctive and intriguing phenomenon where subjects apparently possess, inter alia, conscious knowledge that they are dreaming while they are dreaming. I here develop and defend a new model of lucid dreaming, what I call the ‘Dyadic Model’, according to which lucid dreams involve the tokening of both dreaming and non-dreaming states. The model is developed to successfully defend the Imagination Theory of dreams, according to which to dream is to imagine, against the underexplored objection that it cannot account for lucid dreams. Moreover, as I explain, a range of theories of dreaming have reason to adopt the Dyadic Model, and it has further potential applications, including to false awakening and emotional responses to dreams. Hence, getting lucid about lucid dreaming reveals general insights for dream theorizing.

Content determination in dreams supports the imagination theory

There are two leading theories about the ontology of dreams. One holds that dreams involve hallucinations and beliefs. The other holds that dreaming involves sensory and propositional imagining. I highlight two features of dreams which are more easily explained by the imagination theory. One is that certain things seem to be true in our dreams, even though they are not represented sensorily; this is easily explained if dreams involve propositional imagining. The other is that dream narratives can be temporally segmented, involving events which take place across long spans of time; this makes sense if dreams involve sensory imagining, for we often sensorily imagine narratives during wakefulness in the same way. The two considerations are unified by the fact that both highlight forms of content determination characteristic of imagining.

Research on the Constructive Narrative Mode of Film based on the Embodied Imagination Theory

Psychoanalytic theory can be used to analyze the narrative mode of the film to explain psychological problems from the perspective of dreams. Based on the theory of embodied imagination, this study uses the text analysis method to analyze the film constructive narrative mode embodied in the film Deep Sea through the case study. The film constructs the sand play narrative space and uses nonlinear narrative techniques to reflect the three major characteristics of the film’s constructive narrative mode based on the theory of embodied imagination: the integration of authenticity and illusion in image construction, the penetration of emotional emergence and the process of image experience, and the realization of healing effects both on and off-screen. In the research process, the advantages and disadvantages of film works are analyzed. The advantages of free narrative logic and immersive movie-watching experience are accompanied by the disadvantages of increasing the threshold of movie-watching and large investment risks. This study provides a reference for the construction of the theoretical system of film constructive narrative mode.

Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity, written by Neil Van Leeuwen

Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity, written by Neil Van Leeuwen

Ancient Sources in Adam Smith’s Theories of Sympathetic Morality and Imagination: Aristotle’s Thought and The Theory of Moral Sentiments

This essay considers the profound influence of Aristotle’s philosophy on Adam Smith’s theories of sympathetic morality and imagination. In particular, it examines how Smith’s theories, often seen as Stoic, align with Aristotelian concepts; also, it analyses Smith’s interpretation of wonder as more than a philosophical catalyst, but also as a force that enhances sensitivity to virtue and informs moral judgement: which is similar to Aristotle’s view of wonder as the genesis of philosophical and scientific inquiry. Consequently, Smith’s understanding of imagination is seen as a transformative cognitive faculty similar to Aristotle’s idea of it as an innate capacity for mental imagery and sensory perception. This juxtaposition underscores the role of the imagination as a creative dynamics that transcends individual perspective and captures the essence of human experience. Smith’s integration of Aristotelian thought represents thus a distinctive and nuanced contribution to the classical legacy within the Scottish Enlightenment, shaping a deeper understanding of moral and philosophical inquiry.

Dialectics of perception and imagination: Embodied politics of atmosphere in Xiqiao Road, Nanjing

Dialectics of perception and imagination: Embodied politics of atmosphere in Xiqiao Road, Nanjing

Dancing with BBoy: Transliteracies and critical imagination in superhero storytelling

AbstractIn this article, we describe a year‐long superhero storytelling project we facilitated with youth in a midwestern middle school. In this project, students read Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spiderman , designed superhero stories set in their community, and presented artistic representations of their stories to their families and peers. We present three episodes of mobile storytelling from this project, focusing on Aidan, one of eighteen youth participants. Using tools from theories of transliteracies and critical imagination, we illustrate how Aidan's embodied movement and play constituted critically literate acts. A transliteracies lens oriented toward critical imagination reveals how Aidan fluidly moved between fictional and real worlds to reimagine his experienced realities. These findings indicate a need to expand what counts as literate activity in schools.

Imagining with imaginable: A Holistic Approach to Futures Thinking

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to how interconnected and dependent the globe is, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive and team effort to address local, regional, and international sustainable development issues. The ability to receive and understand data from the outside world, our inner world of emotions, and our memories is known as imagination. It serves as a display for rational evaluation, introspection, and imaginative creation of our instincts, perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and conceptions. The capacity for creative imagination is the capacity to combine sensations and notions to create original ideas that are not always logical or true. We need to be conscious of the three filters that imagination uses to analyze information: the emotional, the intellectual, and the creative. We may create a more comprehensive and integrated approach to problem-solving and decision-making by comprehending these filters and how they interact. The "Theory of Imagination and Imaginables" and the "Model of Imaginables" are presented in this work using an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. We may design sustainable, just, and compassionate futures by practicing creativity and using a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving. In addition to contributing to the emerging field of future studies, this study offers a valuable framework for people and organizations trying to understand the intricacies of our linked world.

An Analysis of Volition and Self-Identity Construction in Ai Qing’s Poem

The Chinese poet Ai Qing (pen name of Jiang Zhenghan) advocated expressing one’s innermost thoughts directly through poetry, and his poems often used straightforward language to convey strong volition. This article examines Ai Qing’s poetry from the perspectives of form and the process of imagination, using Coleridge's theory of imagination and Ai Qing’s own poetic philosophy. It seeks to explore the volition embodied in Ai Qing’s poetry and how he constructs his own identity through poetry. In terms of form, Ai Qing adhered to “the prose beauty of poetry,” expressing the hope to break free from constraints, liberate thoughts, and assert personal will. Through the unconventional imagination process in his poems, Ai Qing reveals the unconscious self-agent of the poet to speak for the people and an active perspective on the interplay between the poet’s self-agent and the external world. It is the combination of poetic form and the creative process of imagination that constructs Ai Qing’s identity as a national poet yearning for freedom, revolution, and yet filled with a sense of concern.

The Clash of Imaginations on the Identity of the Messiah in Luke 7:18−35 in the Perspective of Harari’s Theory of Imagination

From the perspective of Harari’s theory of imagination, the narrative of Luke 7:18−35 displays the clash of imaginations between John and Jesus regarding the identity of the Messiah. It appears that Jesus tries to beat John’s imagination about the identity of the Messiah by lowering the position of John in the Kingdom of God. Clashing with John’s imagination, Jesus builds up the imagination of the Messiah as a figure who presents the Kingdom of God which includes the individual transformation, the transformation of social relationships in the community, the transformation of social structures, and the transformation of the world.

Anthony Vidler (1941-2023)

Abstract On October 19, 2023, we lost Anthony Violer, a longtime friend of this magazine. A brilliant historian of architecture whose deep scholarship and intellectual curiosity ranged from Ledoux to his own contemporaries, Tony was also an astute reader of art and theory, and he was always alert not only to the historical conditions of a given practice but also to its conceptual implications and political ramifications. In manifold ways Tony instructed us, inspired us, committed us, and delighted us with his theatrical imagination and subversive wit.

Creativity in early childhood: how educators from Australia and Italy are documenting the creative thought processes of young children

Creative and critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making have attracted increasing interest over the last decade as key twenty-first century skills for education. While the Australian Curriculum implies that creativity should be applied to all learning domains, the Early Years Learning Framework for birth to 5 years (EYLF) largely relegates creativity to children’s expression through the creative arts. The world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach places creativity at the centre of its curriculum not as a creative product, but as a cognitive process. This paper draws upon recent research with early childhood teachers from NSW, Australia and Northern Italy who formed sister-centre relationships to share their perspectives on children’s creative thinking. Through email exchange, educators from each country sent three examples of centre documentation they believed demonstrated children’s creative thinking, with an invitation for a response from the sister centre. Vygotsky’s creative imagination theory, Malaguzzi and Rodari’s philosophies of creativity, imagination and education, provide theoretical frameworks to explain the creative processes of children. Findings suggest that the Australian educators in this study demonstrated the practice of responsiveness to children in co-constructing factual knowledge, while the Italian educators focused more on the processes of children’s thinking, with a view of the child as an imaginative and creative being. This paper argues that if creative thinking is an essential skill for lifelong learning, then more attention for how educators in early childhood education contexts are incorporating this into practice is needed.

Constructing a Hellenic modernism: Aeschylus at the ancient theatre of Syracuse (1914–30)

Abstract This article examines the aesthetic means employed in classical performances produced by the Institute of Ancient Drama (INDA) in Syracuse between 1914 and 1930, with a particular focus on performances of Aeschylus’ tragedies. The first part of this study traces the influences of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century modernist and avant-garde movements on the Syracusan project, including the experiments pioneered by the radical French gauche, the German productions directed by Hans Oberländer with Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Mollendorf in the role of dramaturg and translator, as well as Max Reinhardt’s early engagements with ancient Greek drama and his vision of theatre (particularly his Theatre of the Five Thousand). It then discusses the aesthetic trajectory that productions of ancient Greek drama, and more specifically those of Aeschylus’ plays, underwent from INDA’s beginnings in 1914–30, when an all-fascist governing body was installed at its helm.