The human imagination manifests in countless different forms. We imagine the possible and the impossible. How do we do this so effortlessly? Why did the capacity for imagination evolve and manifest with undeniably manifold complexity uniquely in human beings? This handbook reflects on such questions by collecting perspectives on imagination from leading experts. It showcases a rich and detailed analysis on how the imagination is understood across several disciplines of study, including anthropology, archaeology, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and the arts. An integrated theoretical-empirical-applied picture of the field is presented, which stands to inform researchers, students, and practitioners about the issues of relevance across the board when considering the imagination. With each chapter, the nature of human imagination is examined - what it entails, how it evolved, and why it singularly defines us as a species.

Combining perspectives from both continental and analytic philosophy, this timely volume explores how imagination today both shapes and is shaped by technology, art and ethics. Imagination is one of the most significant and broadly examined concepts in contemporary philosophy and is frequently understood as a basic human faculty that enables complex activities. This book shows, however, that imagination is more than a mere enabler. Whilst imagination shapes our experiences, it is at the same time shaped by our environments. Some of the most creative manifestations of imagination are the result of its two-way interaction with art or technology, or both. In short, imagination co-shapes us. Beyond the traditional perspectives of Kant and Heidegger, The Philosophy of Imagination: Technology, Art and Ethics examines our dynamic relationship with imagination, from contemporary technological advancements such as AI that transform the whole ecosystem to imagination in the context of videogames and literary fiction. Analysing societal imagination, it addresses the relationship between the racial imaginary and white ignorance, as well as the effects that societal mechanisms such as lockdowns can have on our imagination. Taking its cue from the here and now, this volume brings together leading international scholars to investigate how the concept of co-shaping allows us to see imagination and its crucial role in society in new and productive ways.

"Film tourism-travel associated with a movie or television show-is big business. Whether it is a filming location such as the Game of Thrones set in Northern Ireland, a newly-created themed area like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, or the myriad of "pop-ups" that have become part of television marketing such as FriendsFest and The Seinfeld Experience, film tourism is booming. In Placing Fandom, Abby Waysdorf presents an in-depth investigation of contemporary film tourism, drawing on both fan studies and tourism studies perspectives. Its overall focus is on the tourist experience, building on previous research in that direction, but with a stronger focus on the relationship that tourists have with what they are traveling to visit. It asks, what role do film-related places play in contemporary fandom? By looking at film tourism from both the perspective of the tourist and the effects of this experience on broader fan ecologies, Waysdorf presents a more holistic understanding of film tourism today, looking at not only its appeal and meaning to tourists, but considering the structures that underlie it as it becomes a recognized, and potentially lucrative, part of contemporary fandom. Incorporating dozens of fan interviews, Placing Fandom provides case studies of today's biggest fandoms and the sites they frequent. The monograph is set apart by its comparative approach that engages with multiple forms of film tourism, from filming locations to simulated locations, frequent visitors to one-off tourists, and at the same time presents a new overarching theoretical framework for the practice"--

Explores the necessity of enabling the imagination to prevail as part of an anti-reductionist approach, to philosophical theology, if we are to engage with God's action in the world.

Phenomenology is the general study of the structure of experience, from thought and perception, to self-consciousness, bodily-awareness, and emotion. It is both a fundamental area of philosophy and a major methodological approach within the human sciences. Experiencing Phenomenology is an outstanding introduction to phenomenology. Approaching fundamental phenomenological questions from a critical, systematic perspective whilst paying careful attention to classic phenomenological texts, the book possesses a clarity and breadth that will be welcomed by students coming to the subject for the first time. Accessibly written, each chapter relates classic phenomenological discussions to contemporary issues and debates in philosophy. The following key topics are introduced and explained: the methodological foundations of phenomenology intentionality as the ‘mark of the mental’ and the problem of non-existent objects perceptual experience, including our awareness of things, properties, and events the experience of body, self, and others imaginative and emotional experience detailed discussions of classical phenomenological texts, including: Brentano's Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint Husserl's Logical Investigations, Cartesian Meditations, and On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of Internal Time Heidegger’s History of The Concept of Time, and Being and Time Stein's On the Problem of Empathy Sartre's Transcendence of the Ego, Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions, and The Imaginary Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception. Also included is a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, making this book an ideal starting point for anyone new to the study of phenomenology, not only in Philosophy but related disciplines such as Psychology and Sociology.

Brian O'Shaughnessy presents a theory of consciousness, one of the most fascinating but puzzling aspects of human existence. He investigates what consciousness is and how it engages, through perception, with the world.

Jung and the Alchemical Imagination illustrates the spiritual nature of Jungian psychology and the debt it owes to the tradition of esoteric religion. Unlike other books on Jung and alchemy which contain a psychological interpretation of alchemical material, this work uses alchemy to understand the three cornerstones of Jungian spirituality--the self, the transcendent function, and active imagination. Through the interpretation of alchemical imagery, Raff explains the nature of these three concepts and illustrates how together they form a new model of contemporary Western spirituality. This book is also unique in selecting alchemical texts for analysis that are relatively unknown and which, for the most part, have never been interpreted. In addition, he presents two new concepts--the ally and the psychoid realm. Through the addition of these ideas, and the new understanding that they offer, it is possible to apply alchemical imagery to transpsychic experience/ that is, to a world of spirits which may not be reduced to psychological concepts. By including this realm in the study of alchemy and Jungian thought, it is possible to gain insights into the nature of visionary and ecstatic experiences that form part of the path of individuation--the road to completion.

This subtle, tightly woven study treats the dialectical relation s hip of imagination and reality in three major poets and, through them, in the poetry of the past two centuries. Professor Regueiro traces the modern poet's attempt to balance imagination and reality, his withdrawal from the external and absorption in self-consciousness, and his ultimate recognition of the temporal and the natural as the only realms where the imagination may survive. Through her study of Wordsworth, Yeats, and Stevens, she envisions the modern poet as he comes to recognize the dangers and the limits of the imagination in his dealings wit h the real world and to accept and affirm the tensions that allow poetry to exist.

The controversy of flux and stasis as the groundwork of reality of Greek ancient philosophy reached its crux in the all encompassing doctrine of the logos by Heraclitus of Ephesus. It centers upon human soul in its role with the cosmos. Philosophy of the Occident corroborating Greek insights with the progress of culture in numerous interpretations (Kant, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur...), presented in this collection has neglected the cosmic sphere. While contemporary development of science revealed its grounding principles (papers by Grandpierre, Kule and Trutty-Coohill) the ancient logos fully emerges. Thus, logos hitherto hidden in our commerce with earth is revealed in its intertwinings with the cosmos through the trajectories of the phenomenology/ontopoiesis of life (Tymieniecka). The crucial link between the soul and the cosmos, in a new geo-cosmic horizon, is thus being retrieved.

In this book, Dr. Bahrke and Dr. Nohr introduce psychotherapists and psychoanalysts to how they can work with Katathym Imaginative Psychotherapy (KIP) at the current level of psychodynamic knowledge. The method is a method of psychodynamic psychotherapy introduced by Hanscarl Leuner in 1955 under the name "Katathymes Bilderleben" and further developed since then. The authors clearly show the state of the art in case studies and in a systematic presentation. About the method: How does KIP work? The therapeutic practice is based on the inclusion of imaginations in the therapy process. Unconscious desires, conflicts, their defense as well as the transference relationship are thus symbolically illustrated. The imaginations stimulated and accompanied by the therapist are a valuable supplement to the psychodynamic process of understanding and, in addition to conversation, open up an affect-related, motivation-promoting access route in the treatment of many disturbance patterns in short and long-term therapies. In contrast to other psychotherapy methods that use imaginations, imaginations in KIP are understood as a component of relational work, taking transference and resistance into account. Written for ... Psychodynamically working psychotherapists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who work with imaginations, as well as all colleagues interested in figurative language, metaphors and dreams.