“Аn art, hidden in the depths of the human soul”: the beginning of the concept of imagination

About the author:

Aleksei G. Ivanov, Cand. Sci. (Philos.), Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tyumen; decartus@rambler.ru

Abstract:

The precondition of the approach implemented in this article is the understanding of the imagination as a category relevant to the ontology of culture. In this context, the imagination is a concept created by humans for self-understanding. The author of the article considers the theory of imagination, expressed in the Critique of Pure Reason by I. Kant, to be the beginning and the source of interpretation of imagination. Despite the discrepancy of the two editions of the Critique of Pure Reason, we can distinguish in Kant’s theory of imagination the number of characteristics relevant to the subsequent interpretations. They are apriority, transcedentality, spontaneity, synthetical character, schematism, productivity and paradoxicality. Consideration of the imagination in the Critique of Judgment raises the problem of interaction of all abilities, the boundaries between which are blurred. In the 19th-20th centuries, the problem of abilities correlation resulted in the problem of discourses relation. In future, it is necessary to consider the interpretation of the characteristics of imagination, which were demonstrated in modern culture.

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