THE IMAGINATION

Paul Gerard Horrigan, Ph.D., 2019.

The imagination is the second internal sense power, operative potency or faculty studied
by philosophical anthropology after the central sense or common sense (sensus communis), the
third and fourth internal senses being the estimative power (in animals)/cogitative power (in
man) and sensitive memory (cf. Summa Theologiae, I, q. 78, a. 4, c.). Imagination is the internal
sense power, operative potency or faculty which is capable of forming, conserving and
reproducing images or phantasms of perceived things even in the absence of these things in
reality that once actuated the external senses and were perceived by the central or common
sense (sensus communis). “The imagination registers the impressions unified by the central sense
to reproduce these subsequently, sometimes with fanciful elaborations. Its necessity derives from
the inability of the central sense to retain its own impressions; functioning in combination with
the external senses, the central sense knows reality only when this affects the senses, whereas the
imagination brings back the image of these realities known in their absence. The image produced
by this power of imagining is known as the phantasm; it is an expressed species that represents
the sense object as it is past or absent or otherwise inaccessible to the external senses. Apart from
its role in sense knowledge, the phantasm plays an indispensable role in man’s knowing process,
where it supplies a representation of a concrete reality from which the intellect extricates the
concept or essential meaning.”1 “By imagination is meant an internal sensitive potency by means
of which subjects are capable of retaining the species of objects apprehended by the external
senses and the central sense when these objects are no longer actually affecting the sense organs.
Because imagination can retain these species, it can also reproduce them and combine them into
more complex images. The existence of such an internal sense in man is evident from our own
internal experience. At least the more perfect types of animals show by their behavior that they
have the same retentive power. Animal training, for example, is based upon the fact that animals
are capable of learning, i.e., of retaining their sense experience. Moreover, animals are subject to
dreams, as is evidenced by motor reactions during their sleep;2 and they go in search of prey, by
which they show that somehow they know what they are looking for.”3 The internal sense power
of imagination is not only capable of forming, conserving and reproducing images or phantasms
of things once perceived in extra-mental reality but imagination in its “creative” function can
combine conserved images amongst each other to form images or phantasms of beings that don’t
exist in the extra-mental world (e.g., flying blue elephants with eagle wings, centaurs, green
bears with human faces as tall as skyscrapers). “L’immaginazione permette inoltre di produrre
ulteriori sintesi sensoriali. Le sensazioni archiviate infatti si possono combinare per ottenere
nuove sintesi sensoriali di cose anche non esistenti nella realtà. In questo modo si possono
immaginare i centauri, le sirene e tante altre cose fantastiche che sono il frutto della
combinazione immaginativa di elementi esistenti nella realtà ma mescolati o uniti in modo
diverso. Grazie all’immaginazione sono possibili l’arte e le creazioni artistiche, le invenzioni

1
W. WALLACE, The Elements of Philosophy, Alba House, Staten Island, NY, 1977, p. 69.
2
For instance, a dog may suddenly during his sleep start growling or even barking. The explanation seems to be that
he had the sensation of an exciting object (a cat), even though no such object was actually present.
3
H. J. KOREN, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Animate Nature, B. Herder, St. Louis, 1957, p. 123.

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della tecnica, i racconti e le narrazioni.”4 “Creare nuovi oggetti. – È evidente che la fantasia ci
presenta oggetti mai visti o integra di suo gli oggetti percepiti.5 Questa funzione diviene
predominante nelle creazioni artistiche. Per essa la fantasia è detta «creatrice». Questa creazione
può avvenire in due modi: a) Automaticamente e senz’ordine. – Ciò avviene nel sogno e può
verificarsi anche nei bruti. In questo modo sorgono le più stane ed incoerenti rappresentazioni.
Non pare che vi sia nessuna legge che regga tali costruzioni, in questo senso sopratutto la
fantasia è detta «pazza di casa» ; b) Sotto la guida della ragione cosicchè il complesso degli
elementi venga ad essere disposto secondo le esigenze di un’idea. Sono tali le creazioni artistiche
e tecniche. Questa forma di attività creatrice non si dà che nell’uomo. In ogni caso la fantasia
non fa che usare elementi antecedentemente ricavati dalle cose. In realtà non crea, ma
«compone».”6 “Both the external senses (the special senses) and the central sense (the common
sense) function only in the presence of an object actually stimulating a receptor. Imagination is
the power of sensory representation of objects not present to the receptor organs. Its product is
called an image. This power can either simply reproduce the previous perceptions or it can
combine them (or elements of them) into new images; for instance, a flying horse. Although the
former function is sometimes referred to as reproductive imagination and the latter as creative
imagination, these are not different powers but simply different functions of the same power.
When a person says he has no imagination, he does not really mean that he lacks this power
entirely, but rather that his imagination has a low degree of creativity.”7

The images or phantasms of the imagination do not refer only to visual images. Not only
can we imagine the color and shape of a mango (visual image), but also the fragrance of a rose
(olfactory image), the taste of a chocolate chip cookie (gustatory image), the roughness of the
concrete pavement (touch image), the weight of a fully packed rice sack (pressure image), the
sound of a frog in a field (auditory image), the temperature of hot and cold water in a hotel sink
(warmth and cold image), the misery of a knee operation (pain image), the strain of running a
marathon (kinesthetic image), the sensation of falling down after tripping on a shoe (static
image), the ache of not having eaten all day (visceral image), etc. “When we employ the word
image, we should not think that the imagination retains and reproduces only the visual
experiences of the past. This is only one type of imaginative object, the one with which we are
most familiar. The imagination can retain and reproduce the sensory forms of all the external
senses. But in most people the use of the power of imagination is very restricted, and it normally
functions well only with visual objects. How inept most of us are in the use this power can be
shown easily if we try to reproduce in our imagination the forms of anything more than the most
simple odors, sounds and tastes.”8 “It is to be noted that the imagination can reproduce not only
visual perceptions, as is suggested by the word image, but any previous sensory experience.
Hence we have not only visual images, but also auditory, olfactory, gustatory, kinesthetic,
tactual, and so forth. Individuals vary greatly in their power of auditory imagination, for
instance; some can hear very clearly in their imagination, while others find it difficult to imagine
the simplest tune.”9
4
F. BERGAMINO, La struttura dell’essere umano, EDUSC, Rome, 2007, p. 99.
5
Caratteristica in proposito l’illusione del correttore di bozze che crede di vedere lettere ed anche parole che non ci
sono.
6
G. BERGHIN-ROSÈ, Elementi di filosofia, vol. 4 (Psicologia), Marietti, Turin, 1960, p. 131.
7
J. E. ROYCE, Man and His Nature, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961, p. 80.
8
H. REITH, An Introduction to Philosophical Psychology, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1956, p. 103.
9
J. E. ROYCE, op. cit., p. 80.

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 The percept, which is the impressed species of a sensible order received from the
common sense (sensus communis), provides the stimulus for the imagination, which is able to
retain this species. This impressed species of a sensible order (the percept) is received by the
actuated imagination, and the latter then produces as the term of its action an expressed species
of a sensible order, which is the image or phantasm. “Such an expressed species must be
admitted, because the act of imagining requires a term corresponding exactly to that which is
imagined. But the object imagined may be absent or even nonexistent; e.g., a gremlin or a fairy.
Yet the act of imagining has to terminate in something present and corresponding exactly to it.
Accordingly, the imagination has to produce in itself an image of the object imagined, and this
image is the expressed species of the imagination or the phantasm. Note, however, that
phantasms are not retained when the imagination ceases to act; for a phantasm is the terminus of
the act of imagining and therefore ceases when this act ceases. Whenever the imagination is
actuated again by the retained impressed species, the corresponding phantasm is produced.”10 As
regards the causes of the reproduction or images of phantasms, James E. Royce states that they
“may be evoked by physiological causes, by motivational urges, or by associations which vary
from the apparently random to those which are directly the result of choice,”11 while Henry J.
Koren has physiological stimulation, the association of images, and the action of the will or
another internal sense: “a) Physiological stimulation. Pressure and other action upon the brain,
the organ of the imagination, may cause a stimulation similar to that caused by the external
sensation which first gave rise to the phantasm; b) Association of images. The laws of the
association of images are the laws of contiguity, of contrast, and of similarity. If objects are
perceived as contiguous in space or time, the imagination tends to reproduce them together; e.g.,
a visit to your alma mater will bring back to your imagination events that happened there when
you were a student. The perception of certain objects tends to lead to the reproduction of
phantasms of their opposites; e.g., the sensation of white will easily give rise to the concomitant
phantasm of black. Present objects will bring back the phantasms of similar objects experienced
in the past; e.g., a heavy pipe smoker will cause the reproduction of the phantasm of a
smokestack; c) The action of the will or another internal sense. Man is able to order his
imagination to produce certain phantasms or to combine them with others. Examples are the
make-believe games of children; imaginary beings such as fairies and gremlins; the more serious
activity of the imagination resulting in great works of art and new inventions. The ability of the
imagination to produce and combine phantasms under the guidance of the intellect and will is so-
called creative imagination. In animals ‘instinct’ may lead to the combination of phantasms. For
instance, a dog which has been whipped several times, may shrink away from the instrument of
punishment, because he combines the phantasm of the whip with that of pain and therefore of
harmfulness.”12

The imagination’s specific functions are fourfold: 1. it forms and conserves images or
phantasms of sense objects; 2. it is capable of reproducing the images or phantasms even in the
absence of the perceived object; 3. it also has the power to fashion and construct images or
phantasms into new combinations (as is seen in pictorial, musical and literary creations); and 4. it
supplies the agent intellect with images or phantasms in order for it to be able to abstract from
the image or phantasm a species of the intelligible order (the abstracted nature or the impressed

10
H. J. KOREN, op. cit., p. 125.
11
J. E. ROYCE, op. cit., p. 80.
12
H. J. KOREN, op. cit., pp. 125-126.

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species of an intelligible order), which is then impressed on the possible intellect, and, being
actuated by such a form, the possible intellect produces the idea, the expressed species of an
intelligible order. “Nell’uomo la più importante funzione di questa facoltà è quella di offrire
immagini all’intelletto agente, che poi agisce causalmente sull’intelletto possibile così da
formare i concetti. L’intelligenza ha perciò bisogno della immaginazione per formare i concetti
ed anche per usare il contenuto intellettuale per applicarlo alla realtà concreta.13
L’immaginazione conosce però soltanto la parte esteriore delle cose (di cui offre all’intelligenza
la rappresentazione) e non la loro essenza.14 Determinante è quindi l’aspetto quantitativo:
oggetto di questa facoltà è quanto è connesso con la grandezza.15”16 “Nel caso dell’uomo poi,
l’immaginazione è la facoltà che fornisce all’intelligenza le immagine a partire dalle quali egli
ottiene le idee o concetti. La razionalità è costantemente accompagnata da rappresentazioni
immaginative. Questo non significa evidentemente che l’idea coincide con l’immagine, ma che il
pensare umano richiede il supporto sensibile dell’immaginazione. Le idee e i concetti dell’uomo
si alimentano costantemente dell’immaginazione e si ottengono a partire da essa. Manifestazione
di questo lo si ha della tendenza che ciascuno può sperimentare in sé a immaginare tutto ciò che
pensa.”17 “…l’immaginazione umana è un’attività di grande ampiezza e ricchezza di oggetti e
funzioni. Ciò è dovuto al fatto che questo senso interno, come anche la memoria, è penetrato
dall’intelligenza e, oltre al suo funzionamento spontaneo, può essere governato dalla volontà.
Non lo è nel sogno né nei sogni da svegli né quando gli si permette di vagabondare. Inoltre, la
rappresentazione dell’immaginazione è la base dell’atto dell’intelligenza o concetto. In modo
simile alla necessità che l’immaginazione ha della percezione per produrre la rappresentazione,
l’intelligenza ha bisogno dell’immagine per poter originare i concetti: la maggiore stabilità,
costanza e schematismo della struttura sensibile, contenuta dell’immagine, sono la conditio sine
qua non dell’universalità e astrazione del concetto; lo spazio colto dai sensi esterni, come il tatto,
la vista, e l’udito, viene trasformato dall’immaginazione in uno spazio immaginato, sul quale
l’intelligenza concepisce l’idea astratta di spazio.”18 “San Tommaso ispirandosi ad Aristotele
assegna alla fantasia o immaginazione un ruolo essenziale, fondamentale: spetta infatti alla
fantasia proporre all’intelletto agente il materiale su cui questo irradia la sua luce per fare
emergere gli intelligibili (i concetti). Secondo un’immagine che San Tommaso ama richiamare
spesso: la fantasia è per l’intelletto ciò che è il colore per i sensi; come i sensi vedono i colori,
così l’intelletto vede i fantasmi e illuminandoli ne ricava l’idea (il concetto). Ciò che è
importante notare nella teoria tomistica è che lo sguardo dell’intelletto è rivolto ai fantasmi
continuamente e non saltuariamente, cioè non soltanto nel momento della formazione delle idee.
«Senza i fantasmi l’anima non conosce non soltanto nel momento in cui acquista un concetto, ma
neanche quando torna a considerare ciò che già conosce; perché i fantasmi stanno all’intelletto
come gli oggetti sensibili ai sensi (phantasmata se habent ad intellectum sicut sensibilia ad
sensum)»(III Sent., d. 31, q. 2, a. 4).

13
De Veritate, 14, 8, ad 4; De Potentia, 3, 9, ad 22; Summa Theologiae, I, 84, 7. Ciò risulta anche dal fatto che
l’intelligenza non funziona più bene nel caso in cui il cervello sia danneggiato.
14
In III Sent., d. 35, a. 2, a. 2, sol. 1; Summa Theologiae, I, 57, 1, ad 2; Summa Theologiae, III, 15, 1: «vis
imaginativa est apprehensiva similitudinum corporalium». Vedi GIOVANNI DI SAN TOMMASO, Cursus philos.,
III, 252.
15
De Veritate, 15, 2.
16
L. J. ELDERS, La filosofia della natura di San Tommaso d’Aquino, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City,
1996, pp. 227-228.
17
F. BERGAMINO, op. cit., p. 99.
18
A. MALO Essere persona, Armando, Rome, 2013, p. 126.

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 “La collaborazione tra l’intelletto e la fantasia è costante: la conoscenza intellettiva è
continuamente legata ai dati della fantasia. Questo, secondo San Tommaso, avviene per due
motivi: «In primo luogo perché l’anima umana, nei gradi dell’intelletto, occupa naturalmente
l’ultimo posto; per cui il suo intelletto si comporta passivamente rispetto a tutti gli intelligibili
così come la materia prima rispetto a tutte le forme sensibili. E pertanto non può passare all’atto
prima di ricevere le immagini delle cose e questo avviene mediante i sensi e la fantasia. In
secondo luogo perché l’anima è forma del corpo, e perciò bisogna che la sua operazione sia
un’operazione di tutto l’uomo; però in questo caso essa comunica col corpo non come strumento
per agire, ma come ciò che fa presente l’oggetto, cioè il fantasma; e così avviene che l’anima non
può conoscere senza fantasmi neppure quelle cose che ha già conosciuto in precedenza (non
potest intelligere sine phantasmate etiam ea quae prius novit)»(III Sent., d. 31, q. 2, a. 4).

“A causa della profonda solidareità che unisce l’intelletto alla fantasia, è ovvio l’influsso
che questa può esercitare sulla conoscenza intellettiva e su tutte le altre attività umane in
generale. La fantasia pertanto può essere sia una buona sia una cattiva compagna. Per questo
motivo bisogna esercitare un attento controllo sulla fantasia, perché «tutti i difetti dell’anima
sono prodotti o dalla fantasia o dalle passioni dell’appetito irascibile e concupiscibile»(II Sent., d.
7, q. 2, a. 1, ad 1).”19

Reith explains that the imagination “can retain images of past external sense experience
and compose new images from the experience of the past. Because it retains the species of
objects grasped by the external senses, the imagination can reproduce them. It does not actually
recreate the external sensation, for that would require the physical presence of an object, but it
forms an image which corresponds to the original sensation.”20

Celestine Bittle on the Three Distinct Phases of the Imagination’s Normal Activity,
Namely, the Conservatory Imagination, the Reproductive Imagination, and the Constructive
Imagination: “The Conservatory Imagination. Somehow or other, we conserve the ‘images’ or
‘phantasms’ of previous sensations and perceptions in our imagination; or, at any rate, we
conserve something which the imagination elaborates into ‘images.’ Our daily experience proves
that we are able to revive these images, not only once but hundreds of times. The ability to revive
them presupposes the conservation of these images or of something which gives rise to them.”21

“The reproductive imagination is the imagination in so far as it has the power of forming
phantasms of objects and events which have been previously perceived. It should be noted very
carefully that what are reproduced here in phantasmal forms are objects and events as they have
been perceived at one one time or other in actual experience, though at present they are no longer
before the senses. It is not necessary that they be recognized as having been previously
experienced; ‘recognition’ is a function of memory...

“Through experience we know that our imaginal phantasms are not isolated fragments of
mental phenomena; they are associated with one another. The reproduction of related phantasms

19
B. MONDIN, Dizionario enciclopedico del pensiero di San Tommaso d’Aquino, ESD, Bologna, 2000, pp. 285-
286.
20
H. REITH, op. cit., p. 103.
21
C. BITTLE, The Whole Man, Bruce, Milwaukee, 1956, p. 172.

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is called association, and the principles which condition the reproduction of a related set of
phantasms are called the Laws of Association. That reason and will exert a powerful influence on
the reproduction of phantasms and associate them freely, can be observed in the composition of a
song, a poem, a book, etc. In the present connection, however, we are concerned only with
involuntary association.

“Laws of Association. There are primary and secondary Laws of Association. The
primary are: the law of contiguity, of similarity, of contrast. The secondary are: vividness of
impression, frequency of repetition, recentness.

“The Primary Laws of Association.

“The Law of Contiguity. By this we mean the tendency of the imagination, in the
presence of objects or events or in the presence of the phantasms of such objects or events, to
recall other objects or events connected with them in time or in space. ‘Contiguity’ is really a
spatial concept, but here it is used in the sense of ‘closeness' in time as well as in space. This law
is the formulation of a fact of common experience.

“If I see or imagine my childhood home, there immediately arise before me objects and
events connected with that place and period of my life: neighboring houses, streets, companions,
relatives, events of school life, games, adventures, etc. If I imagine World War II, this recalls the
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese campaign against the Philippines,
Malaya, Java, Burma, etc., or it may recall the succession of events and places connected with
the Axis campaign in Europe and North Africa, etc. The techniques of art and skill all involve
associations in time and space; whenever I practice or merely imagine a certain technique, a
succession of temporal and spatial phantasms referring to its performance passes through my
imagination. All learning depends on associations of objects or events contiguous in time or in
space. As a rule, such associations contain elements in both time and space.

“The Law of Similarity. This law states that present phantasms of objects, events,
perceptions, and so forth, tend to reproduce in our imagination similar experiences of the past.
We read, for example, an account of the French Revolution and are immediately reminded of the
American Revolution. We see a scene on the Rhine and our imagination pictures a similar scene
on the Hudson. We look at the photograph of our mother, and we recall her person. The law also
applies to perceptions of taste, smell, pain, touch, temperature, etc. The esthetic pleasure derived
from the arts of painting, poetry, sculpture, drama, opera, and so forth, is based to a great extent
on imitation and the suggestion of similarly experienced or imagined things and events.

“The Law of Contrast. This law states that present phantasms of objects, events,
perceptions, and so forth, tend to reproduce in our imagination contrasted experiences of the
past. It is a well-known fact that if one member of a pair of contraries is mentioned or imagined,
the other member of the pair readily suggests itself: hot-cold, black-white, rich-poor, health-
sickness, young-old, up-down, north-south, quiet-loud, pleasure-pain, full-empty, and so on.
Viewed superficially, this linking of contraries is one of the oddest facts of our mental life,
because there seems to be no associative bond between such opposites. Upon closer inspection,
however, it will be seen that the Law of Contrast is really a combination of the Laws of

6
Similarity and Contiguity. These opposites are the extremes, the beginning and the end, of a
common series; and the beginning and the end of a series are similar in this that they are terminal
points. For this reason, too, it is customary to mention the extremes of a series in the same
sentence, because thereby, in a way, we cover the entire series; we thus have the association of
contiguity in thought and language.

“Obviously, the lines of associations as expressed in these laws frequently converge and
combine, so as to strengthen the bond between imaginal phantasms. We then speak of
compound, complex, or co-operative associations. To many a soldier the word ‘New Guinea’ will
recall the countryside, the din of battle, the death of a comrade, wounds, destruction, pride in
victory, patriotism, and many other things. Reversely, there are conflicting or obstructive
associations which impede the recall of a desired image by diverting the mind through counter-
associations. We may wish, for example, to recall a certain melody; but a somewhat similar
melody forces itself upon our imagination, and we are unable to rid ourselves of it, thus blocking
the path for the recall of the melody desired.

“The Secondary Laws of Association.

“Vividness of Impression. When an impression is very vivid, either in its very nature or
because of its accompanying circumstances, such an impression is more readily reproduced by
the imagination. No picture or description can impress us so deeply as the actual participation in
a stirring event. No king will forget his coronation, no president his election, no mother the birth
of her child, no author his first book, no soldier his baptism of fire.

“Frequency. The more frequently an impression is repeated, the easiler it is to recall.

Hearing a person’s name once, listening to a melody once, reading a poem once, viewing a scene
once, etc., does not create a strong associative bond as a general rule. Frequent repetition,
however, has a tendency to reinforce an impression, and through this repetition its reproduction
is facilitated. Frequency is usually the basis of learning.

“Recentness. When an impression has occurred recently, its trace is still fresh, and the
reproduction of the impression by the imagination encounters little difficulty. When, however,
many other impressions intervene between occurrence and recall, the traces of the older
impressions are weakened and perhaps even obliterated. It may be comparatively easy, for
example, to reproduce through our imagination the main events of last week, but well-nigh
impossible to recall those during the same week a year ago.

“It is unquestionable that association plays a very prominent and important part in our
mental life. A knowledge of the laws which govern association should enable us to apply these
laws intelligently for the practical purposes of everyday existence, particularly in mastering the
techniques of our profession or occupation. A genius may be born, but even a genius must
develop his native abilities.

“The Constructive Imagination. The constructive imagination is the imagination in so far

as it has the power to unite phenomena which, in this particular combination, have never been
experienced by the subject. We observe its free workings in dreams and fancies, its controlled

7
workings in the products of art and science. In all these activities combinations of phantasms
occur which, prior to the imaginative function, represent things never perceived by the individual
in question. The result of the function of the constructive imagination may be the phantasm of a
single object, such as a winged horse or a castle in the clouds, or it may be the phantasms of a
series of events, like the Iliad of Homer or a trip to Mars.

“Except perhaps in dreams and free fancies, the workings of the productive imagination
are strongly influenced, and often almost completely controlled, by the intellect and will. The
arts and sciences are proof of the influence of intellect and will in the products of the
imagination.

“The Arts. We speak of the ‘creations’ of art. Strictly speaking, the artistic imagination
does not create; it merely unites images taken from the various sensory impressions with ideas of
the intellect and combines them into beautiful forms which are an idealization of the real and a
realization of the ideal. The total effect is an esthetic whole which is a work of art, a supreme
achievement of the constructive imagination. The Hamlet of Shakespeare, the Divina Commedia
of Dante, the Pietà of Michelangelo, the Sistine Madonna of Raphael, the Parsifal of Wagner, the
Cathedral of Rheims – these show the productive imagination of human genius at its best,
because they are an expression of culture in its highest form. Needless to say, imaginative art
may assume humbler forms, as we observe it in a mother’s lullaby, a child’s play-acting, a boy’s
fancy diving, a girl’s crocheting, a man’s sales talk, and so forth. Even the appliances of the
household are embellished by the artistic touch of man, so that a utilitarian article becomes a
thing of beauty.

“Science and Invention. Many discoveries and inventions of a scientific character were
the result of fortunate accidents. As a rule, though, they were the outcome of laborious research.
Research means the formulation of hypotheses, and hypotheses are the imaginative construction
of probable assumptions concerning causes and effects. Research means the imaginative
application of general principles to problematical particular instances and the imaginative
synthesis of isolated facts into problematical universal laws. Research means the imaginative
devising of instruments, ranging from Geiger counters for trapping individual electrons to giant
telescopes for studying immeasurable galaxies of stars. Research means the imaginative
development of experiments for the verification or disproof of scientific theories which may
affect the welfare of entire nations and change the course of history. Modern civilization, in a
great measure, has been profoundly influenced by epoch-making inventions, such as the
telephone, the locomotive, the steamship, the automobile, the airplane, the radio, and such
inventions are the products of man’s imagination applying the principles of science to the needs
of life. There has not been a single instrument, from a wheel and a knife to a turbine generator
and a rotary press, which does not show the impress of the constructive imagination of an
inventive genius. Nor has there been a single science, starting from a few disconnected facts and
ending in a grandiose synthesis of all relevant facts and laws, which could have developed into a
system of knowledge without the aid of the imagination of a host of scientific workers.

“It is true, of course, that the constructive imagination, operating with sensory phantasms
only, could never achieve these results; it must be controlled and directed by the intellect and
will. But it is equally true, that the intellect and will derive their data concerning the outside

8
world from the perceptions of the external senses and the phantasms of the imagination; without
this assistance, as we are at present constituted, intellect and will would be helpless powers of the
organism as a whole. It would be more accurate to speak of the ‘constructive imagination’ as
being the imagination and the intellect in collaboration.

“The development of the constructive imagination is interesting, for it follows closely the
biological development of man himself.

“In children we observe the first stage of development. One of the outstanding activities
of the constructive imagination of the child is its tendency to interpret inanimate things as living.
To the little girl the doll is always a real baby, and to the little boy the teddy bear is always a real
animal. Not that they actually believe it; their imaginative fancy is at work. The child also shows
its constructive imagination in its play. Girls can spend an entire afternoon playing house, and a
boy will build house after house with blocks. Another feature of childhood imagination is the
love of fairy tales and narratives. Children will listen with rapt attention to the stories of Little
Red Riding Hood and of Jack and the Beanstalk.

“In youth the constructive imagination finds its outlet in games and competitive sports. In
the early part of youth the games are still very imaginative, but a considerable amount of bodily
activity is required. This period helps to develop muscular co-ordination and mental ingenuity. In
the latter part of youth, the games become more and more strenuous, and the competitive spirit
spirit is strongly emphasized. Sport, for sport’s sake, predominates. Games and sports serve the
purpose of preparing the girl and boy for the serious duties which lie before them in afteryears.
At the end of youth, the element of sex enters strongly into the workings of the imagination. Sex
interest is revealed in the type of books the young folks read and in the social events which they
enjoy.

“In adulthood a further radical change occurs. The constructive imagination is now
employed in the serious problems of life, the foundation of future social security, the rearing of a
family, the complete development of all bodily and mental faculties. What was begun in
childhood as a manner of sheer fancy has grown into the mighty forces for good or evil in the
battle of individuals and of nations. The boy and girl have become the man and woman, upon
whose shoulders rests the burden of civilization.”22

Reith on the Ordering of the Imagination: “Though the imagination is an invaluable

instrument for the intellect, it needs control. It is a widely ranging power and very elusive; it is
important that we keep careful check on it. With too free an imagination, a scientist may become
too much of a dreamer, and an artist or moralist, too much of a visionary. Imagination is like a
tool shop for the mind; it must be kept in order, clean, and uncluttered. A shop that lacks order,
even though it contains the finest tools, can be a dangerous place to work in. The intellect must
operate with a controlled imagination.”23

Bittle on Imagination and Dreams: “Dreams. In our normal waking state the activities of
the imagination are checked by the constant impact of stimuli impinging on the external senses

22
C. BITTLE, op. cit., pp. 175-182.
23
H. REITH, op. cit., p. 104.

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and by the control of intellect and will. A completely uncontrolled imagination in our waking
states is a comparatively rare occurrence. It is in dreams that the imagination has free play.

“Dreams possess a number of characteristic features. In sleep the activity of the cortical
centers is in abeyance, so that outside impressions lose a great amount of their correcting
influence. As a result, dreams have a decided appearance of reality. There is also a lack of
coherence. Since intellectual criticism and voluntary control are missing, the scenes and events
pictured in dreams shift about in kaleidoscopic fashion, frequently ending in something entirely
different from the beginning, because the imagination seizes upon an accompanying association
and promptly veers off in that direction. Nevertheless, there is, as a rule, a certain degree of
consistency in dreams, probably due to sets or configurations of associative bonds present in the
imaginal material. Since striking images stand out among the vague mass of fleeting phantasms,
they acquire disproportionate value for the moment, and that probably accounts for the
exaggeration so noticeable in dreams.

“As for the stimulus of dream states, it is safe to assume that some dreams originate from
auditory, pressure, temperature, and visceral sensations dimly experienced during sleep. Other
dreams undoubtedly have their start in worries, problems, fears, unsatisfied desires, etc. Many
dreams have the definite character of wish-fulfillment. Freud made wish-fulfillment the basis of
his technique of psychoanalysis, but he gave it a one-sided development by insisting that the
wish-fulfillment of dreams is based almost exclusively on inhibited sex desires. It is true, of
course, that sex desires may and do play a prominent part in dreams, due to the repression of the
sex impluses in normal waking states; during sleep such impulses are practically out of control
and rise to the surface, thereby producing dreams of wish-fulfillment with a sexual content. It is
unwarrantable, however, and a distortion of fact, to interpret all dreams in terms of ultimate
libido, as Freud does. Fear, with its corresponding emotions, is also a dominant factor
provocative of dreams, and such dreams should be interpreted as simple expressions of fear,
without having recourse to a very obscure and doubtful symbolism of hidden sexuality. Thus, the
horror dreams of soldiers, who have gone through the ordeal of a terrifying battle, should be laid
to the fear for personal safety and not to suppressed libidinous desires. Similarly, many dreams
are the play of indifferent images which happen to cluster around some impressive event which
occurred in a recent experience; to interpret them in any other way is to do violence to simple
facts. There is no absolutely uniform pattern of dreams originating from a single type of
stimulus.”24

24
C. BITTLE, op. cit., pp. 183-184.

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