CFP: Reductive Explanations of Imagination

This workshop aims to bring together scholars working on imagination to discuss the nature, scope and feasibility of reductive approaches to imagination with a special focus on the work of Peter Langland-Hassan.

In his recent book Explaining Imagination Peter Langland-Hassan argues against current orthodoxy for the view that imagination can be fully explained by appeal to other familiar mental states such as beliefs, desires, judgements, decisions and intentions. Any reductive account of imagination is likely to have substantial implications for our understanding of

·      hypothetical and counterfactual reasoning

·      problem-solving by means of imagination

·      the nature of memory

·      engaging in pretense

·      appreciating fictions

·      generating creative works

Call for papers:

We invite submissions that engage critically or favourably with any aspects of the work of Peter Langland-Hassan or the topic of whether imagination can be reductively explained.

Peter Langland-Hassan’s book Explaining Imagination can be downloaded for free here (you may need to copy and paste the link):

https://bit.ly/ExplainingImagination

Abstracts of 500 words should be prepared for blind review and submitted as PDFs with a separate cover sheet that includes the author’s name, her institutional affiliation, contact information, paper title and word count.

Hotel accommodation and meals during the workshop will be covered for speakers whose papers are accepted.

Please send your submissions to [email protected] 

For questions, please write to [email protected]

This event is free and open to the public.

Dates:
Workshop: July 13, 2022
Deadline for submissions: March15, 2022                                     
Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2022