Imagination in Inquiry: A Philosophical Model and Its Applications investigates the nature, kinds, component elements, functions, scope, and uses of the imagination involved in inquiry. It further discusses how these kinds and functions vary and interact depending on the context of inquiries carried out in philosophy and its branches-from the philosophy of science and the philosophy of technology to ethics, sociopolitical philosophy, and aesthetics-and institutions like science, technology, art, and education. Using a homeostatic model, A. Pablo Iannone advances a conception of the imagination as a disposition to search for answers to various types of problems, abstract or concrete, theoretical or practical faced in inquiry. The book treats this as a working characterization, though it develops progressively clearer, more precise, and less ambiguous meanings. All along, the primary concern of the author-as well as of contributors Alejandra Iannone and Rocci Luppicini-is with the moral, aesthetic, logical, communicative, scientific, technological, artistic, literary, and philosophical uses and roles of the imagination. The book's primary focus is not just on such things as the capacity to generate mental images, but especially on the ability to discover and create, anticipate and envision, entertain and manage.
A. Pablo Iannone is emeritus professor of philosophy at Central Connecticut State University.
Part I: Conceptualizations Chapter One: A Conceptual Cartography of Inquiry, the Imagination, and their Interconnected Roles Chapter Two: Dynamics of the Imagination Chapter Three: The Imagination's Elements: Motives, Abilities, Circumstances, Instruments, and Functions Chapter Four: The Interactive Imagination Part II: The Imagination: Philosophical And Practical Chapter Five: The Philosophical Imagination Chapter Six: Wonder, Reason, and the Imagination in Philosophical Inquiry Contrasted with Inquiry in Art, Literature, and Science Chapter Seven: Inquiry and the Imagination's Balancing Act Chapter Eight: Basic Philosophical Attitudes and the Imagination Part III: Comparative Assessments Chapter Nine: Feedback Loops, Today's World, and the Practical Imagination Chapter Ten: Analogies and Disanalogies between the Roles of the Imagination in Inquiries in Philosophy, the Arts, Sciences, Other Branches of Inquiry, and Everyday Life Part IV: Applications and Tests of This Book's Model Chapter Eleven: Speech Acts, the Exercise of Logic, and the Imagination in Inquiry Chapter Twelve: The Imagination, Humor, and a Sense of Humor Chapter Thirteen: The Imagination, and the Mixed Gift of Vision in Individual and Social Life Chapter Fourteen: Inquiry and The Imagination in Moral Decision Making Part V: The Imagination, Current Developments, and Future Prospects in Art and the Digital World Chapter Fifteen: Imagining Dance Mash-Ups: A Practice-based Inquiry Alejandra Iannone Chapter Sixteen: Expanding Youth Ballet Education with Web-hosted Video Post-COVID Alejandra Iannone Chapter Seventeen: The Imagination in Technology-Ethics: The Factual, the Virtual, and the Fictional: Imagination, Appreciation, and the Open-Ended Domain of Cultural Expressions in the Digital World Chapter Eighteen: The Imagination in Technology-Aesthetics Rocci Luppicini Conclusion
