CFP: Synthese Topical Collection on Imagination and Its Limits

Call for Papers:

Synthese Topical Collection: "Imagination and Its Limits"

Guest Editors:

• Amy Kind (Claremont McKenna College)
• Tufan Kıymaz (Bilkent University)

Imagination is at the center of contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind. The ontological status of mental imagery, the epistemological status of imagined scenarios in terms of counterfactual and modal claims, and the relationship between imaginative ability and phenomenal knowledge are all rigorously debated in analytic literature. Likewise, the nature and function of imagination is an important and lively area of research in neuroscience and psychology.

We invite contributions for the Synthese Topical Collection titled “Imagination and Its Limits.” Questions about the limits of imagination fall roughly into three categories:

(1) Questions about the nature of imagination, such as: What cognitive phenomena fall under imagination and what cognitive phenomena do not? What are the different kinds of imagination? Is mental imagery necessary for imagination?

(2) Questions about the (proper) function of imagination, such as: In what ways is imagination used? In what ways can it be used? What is the role of imagination in perception, memory, our engagement with fiction, phenomenal knowledge, moral knowledge, self-knowledge, knowledge of conditionals and modals, etc.?

(3) Questions about the reach and range of imagination, such as: Can imagination extend beyond the merely possible to the impossible? Are there some scenarios that cannot be imagined, and if so, why not?

Appropriate Topics for Submission include, among others:

• The representational content of mental imagery
• Neurophilosophy of mental imagery
• Modal knowledge, conceivability and imagination
• Mental time travel
• Embodied imagination
• Imagination in aesthetics and philosophy of fiction
• Imagination in science
• Imagination and philosophical intuitions
• Methodological role of imagination in philosophy

The deadline for submissions is July 15, 2020.

Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://www.editorialmanager.com/synt  

After logging in to the system, please select the option “TC : Imagination and Its Limits” from the Article Type scroll-down menu.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All manuscripts will be refereed through a peer-review process. All submitted articles should comply with Synthese's Submission Guidelines:
https://www.springer.com/journal/11229/submission-guidelines

For further information, please contact Tufan Kıymaz

([email protected], Department of Philosophy, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey)