Towards a modern concept of imagination: imagination from the Kantian perspective

Abstract

This article makes a critical evaluation of the debate in which the Kantian concept of imagination was built as an epistemological, as well as a political-pedagogical project. The article’s main hypothesis is that the distinction between political and theoretical writings in Immanuel Kant’s works, as well as in the works of other philosophers who participated in this discussion, distorts the comprehension of the debate itself and produces a one-sided and oppositional conception of the modern concept of imagination. To show the unity of the debate, the article concentrates in the philosophical arguments developed by Kant in his pre-critical works and in both editions of the Critique of pure reason, which are presented vis-à-vis the broader debate of his time. Although the works of other philosophers do not receive the same attention as Kant’s works, the article expects to expose the dialogical nature of Kant’s theoretical oeuvre.