What Is the Imagination?

Imagination is as fascinating as it is tricky to characterise. When we imagine, we form particular kinds of mental representations that are variously related to – although also different from – a number of other representations, such as beliefs, percepts, and memories, as well as desires, hopes, and expectations. How are imaginings connected to – and yet distinct from – all these other representations? Is there any unity in our heterogenous uses of the word ‘imagination’, or do they range over a variety of different states, capacities, and activities? What, in other words, does imagination amount to?