What imagination teaches

• Main Author: Ortiz-Hinojosa, Sofia
• Other Authors: Alex Byrne.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2017
• Subjects: Linguistics and Philosophy.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107091

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2016. === Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. === Includes bibliographical references. === An investigation of the imagination, as both a mental process and a capacity to acquire knowledge about the world and other minds. It is argued that imagination is a unique mental process, whose primary feature is the capacity to construct and manipulate sets of mental representations. This feature unifies the diverse activities we call imaginings into a single class. In addition, use of this capacity in a rule-based way, under the constraint of prior beliefs, can help us acquire knowledge of everyday facts. An examination is then made into the limitations of such a capacity. It is argued that imagination can aid in rational decision-making, even in cases which may involve substantial transformation of the agent. Finally, a case is made that we can improve our capacity to gain knowledge of the mental states of others by careful application of imagination. === by Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa. === Ph. D.