What role does imagination play in philosophy? This paper explores the functions and significance of imagination, focusing on the perspectives of Hume and Kant, and examines its interpretation in modern philosophy.
How does philosophy view imagination, and how does it define its role? Hume, who regarded imagination as a central theme in philosophy, is considered the first philosopher to define it as a mental and acquired function, in contrast to the existing view that saw it as a physical and innate function. Hume distinguishes “perception,” a mental activity of humans, into “impressions” and “ideas.” Impressions are the direct raw material of experience regarding objects, much like the senses, while ideas are images that arise when we recall impressions in our minds. Here, Hume viewed the ability to reproduce images through impressions as “imagination.” Imagination is the most fundamental ability we possess for understanding and thinking about objects based on ideas.
Alongside imagination, Hume presents “memory” as the ability to reproduce impressions in the form of ideas. The difference between memory and imagination, much like the difference between impressions and ideas, stems from the degree of vividness; memory reproduces impressions more vividly than imagination does. Therefore, ideas reproduced by memory are far more vivid and intense than those reproduced by imagination. Furthermore, while memory reproduces impressions in the exact same order in which they were originally received, imagination reproduces them freely, regardless of order. Ideas reproduced by memory are ideas of specific impressions received at a specific time and place, whereas ideas reproduced by imagination are ideas that differ from those originally received, even in the temporal sequence in which the impressions arose or their spatial arrangement. In other words, unlike memory, imagination can combine or separate ideas. While the imagination cannot create impressions, it can autonomously reorganize the ideas formed from those impressions.
However, Hume believes that this autonomy of the imagination is subject to certain constraints. He explains that the imagination combines ideas according to the “principles of association”—that is, similarities, contiguity, and causality acquired through experience rather than being innate. When the imagination combines ideas, it does not do so arbitrarily; rather, it combines similar ideas, or those that are spatially or temporally adjacent, or those that are in a causal relationship. For Hume, arbitrarily combined ideas are nothing more than meaningless illusions.
Furthermore, Hume argues that the imagination’s characteristic of constancy allows it to secure identity across the discontinuities between impressions of an object. The continuous existence of an object implies that it maintains its identity, and it is this identity that is secured by the imagination. The fact that we do not think the sky we see upon waking in the morning has been destroyed overnight and then newly created can be understood as a result of this constancy. It is thanks to this constancy of the imagination that we are able to continuously understand and perceive the world.
Unlike Hume, Kant explored the imagination on a transcendental level. According to Kant, human cognitive faculties are divided into four: sensibility, imagination, understanding, and reason. “Sensibility” is the faculty that receives what is sensually given to us by objects through the five senses. ‘Intellect’ refers to the ability to form concepts and, based on those concepts, make judgments about given situations. ‘Imagination’ is the faculty that connects the sensibility and the intellect—two distinct faculties—by conveying the contents of the sensibility to the intellect and the contents of the intellect to the sensibility. While a synthesis occurs when the imagination conveys the contents of the sensibility to the intellect, schematization takes place when the contents of the intellect are conveyed to the sensibility through the imagination. ‘Reason’ is the faculty of inference, which systematizes the vast body of knowledge accumulated through sensibility, imagination, and understanding in various fields by converging it into the ideal of the soul, the universe, or God. In this way, Kant divided human cognitive faculties into sensibility, imagination, understanding, and reason, and while analyzing the principles of how each function operates and connects, he emphasized the role of imagination as the mediator between sensibility and understanding. He believed that without imagination, cognition could not exist.
Kant distinguishes between “reproductive imagination” and “productive imagination” in terms of combination and schematization. Reproductive imagination is the ability to reproduce and combine the various sensations perceived through the five senses; it consists of a process in which one first surveys the disordered and diverse sensations and then reproduces and combines what has been surveyed. This is also called “synthesis,” which combines experiences from different times into a single unified whole. For example, when I see an apple, I survey and gather the various sensations perceived through my five senses and combine them into a single image of that apple; this is a synthesis brought about by reproductive imagination.
Productive imagination is the ability to actively create schemas. A schema is a priori form that is not influenced by the senses; it exists prior to experience and enables the recognition of that experience. Such schemas allow us to understand abstract concepts by connecting them to concrete sensations. Furthermore, productive imagination can create schemas, enabling us not only to understand concepts accurately but also to apply them freely. In this way, Kant transcended Hume’s limitations by exploring imagination on a transcendental level, whereas Hume had studied it on an empirical level.
Meanwhile, philosophical discussions on imagination continue in modern philosophy. Modern philosophers do not merely view imagination as a tool mediating cognition; they also emphasize that imagination is deeply connected to human creativity. Consequently, imagination is regarded as the driving force behind the creation of new ideas and innovations in various fields such as art, literature, and science. This is because imagination is recognized not merely as a capacity for reproduction, but as an ability to create something new and transcend existing frameworks. Therefore, imagination remains an important subject of philosophical inquiry and will continue to be reinterpreted and explored in various ways in the future.
