1. IMAGINATION And knowledge

2. Bellwork ◦What role does imagination play in the various IB subjects that you study?

3. Imagination as a source of knowledge ◦Facts are the dots, then imagination helps us to think of ways of joining the dots together ◦We need to keep in mind the distinction between the source of an idea and its justification

4. IMAGINATION AND THE JUSTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE

5. 3 ways: ◦As a surrogate for experience ◦As a support for judgement ◦As a guide to possibility

6. 1. Imagination as a surrogate for experience ◦Imagination can both intensify and extend our experience, and it could be argued that fiction serves both these function. ◦Fiction can be a remarkably effective way of exposing us to situations of which we have no first-hand knowledge ◦Imagination can be a substitute for experience ◦Thought experiment: an experiment carried out in one’s imagination rather than in the world ◦Rollercoaster example!

7. Things to think about… ◦Questions: ◦It is often said that a historian needs a good imagination. Why? How does a historian’s imagination differ form that of a novelist? ◦What role do experiments play in the development of new scientific ideas? ◦Explain John Rawls (1921- 2002)

8. 2. Imagination as a support for judgement ◦Judgement usually involves comparing the actual with the possible- and possibly lies in the realm of imagination. ◦In judging that a particular explanation is the best one, you need to compare it with other possible explanations; and the more alternatives you are able to imagine, the better your judgment is likely o be. ◦When you make a moral judgment about someone’s behavior, not only do you need to look at what they actually did, but also need to imagine what they could have done. ◦Our attitude to reality is shape by our beliefs about what is possible.

9. Think about it… ◦When we judge the wisdom of future the wisdom of future plans and possible courses of action, we again have recourse to imagination. ◦Stereotypes (what is possible) ◦Video about preconceived notions (Maria's video) ◦In general, how reliable do you think that informed imagination is a guide to the future?

10. 3. Imagination as a guide to possibility ◦Imagination is closely related to the concept of possibility, and the realm of the possible is itself a cognitive domain ◦You acquire knowledge when you discover that something is possible or impossible. ◦How reliable is imagination as a guide to possibility?

11. Two different kinds of possibility Empirically possible ◦Consistent with the law of nature Logically possible ◦Can be described without involving a contradiction

12. Think about it… ◦Bucket list activity◦Are mathematical entities, such as numbers, circles and straight lines, real or imaginary?

13. Different types of imagination Personal Imagination ◦What you can imagine Shared Imagination ◦What can be imagined

14. Continue… ◦Just because you can imagine something it clearly does not follow that it is empirically possible; but does not even follow that it is logically possible ◦Even expert imagination may be unreliable ◦Imagination is not demonstration

15. IMAGINATION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE

16. Radical claim ◦It is ingredient in our knowledge of reality itself ◦We directly experience – in the sense of perceive – only a tiny fraction of the world around us ◦Imagination cooperates with perception to make sense of experience

17. Gestalt psychology ◦A school of psychology which suggests that, in trying to make sense of experience, we naturally tent to see things as a whole rather than in parts

18. Imagined community ◦A community such as a nation, which is based not on direct face- to-face interaction but on image people hold in their minds – since they exist in realty, imagined communities are not the same as imaginary ones ◦Imagination plays a role in constructing a coherent picture of the social and political world