Creative Imagination from Art to Science

Workshop: Creative Imagination from Art to Science

University of Geneva, September 29–30, 2025

Organizers: Julia Langkau and Amy Kind

Over the last couple of decades, imagination has benefited from renewed attention in philosophy. Interestingly, however, much of this attention has concerned its epistemic value; the role of imagination in creativity remains comparatively underexplored (though see Stokes 2014; Kind 2023; and Kind and Langkau forthcoming). Further, while philosophers have attended closely to the role of imagination in engaging with works of art, literature, and music, they have had comparatively little to say about the role of imagination in creating works of art, literature, and music – and there has likewise been little attention the role of imagination in conscious creative processes such as inventing a new piece of technology or constructing a new scientific hypothesis. Yet exploring the role of imagination in creative processes is crucial to our understanding of human creativity, and this becomes especially pressing in light of recent challenges from AI. This workshop aims to explore the role of creative imagination across a wide range of activities: from art to science, and to other creative endeavors as well.