Imagination and Time [Paperback]

Mary Warnock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631190198 | ISBN-13: 978-0631190196 | Publication Date: December 13, 1994 | Edition: 1

All religion and much philosophy has been concerned with the contrast between the ephemeral and the eternal. Human beings have always sought ways to overcome time, and to prove that death is not the end. This book consists then in an exploration of certain closely related ideas: personal identity, time, history and our commitment to the future, and the role of imagination in life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Warnock cites philosophers next to poets, writers of literature next to writers of history, illuminating the ongoing discussion of imagination and the role that imagination plays in the human struggle to understand ourselves and the world around us.” (Resource Center Blog)

From the Back Cover

All religion and much philosophy has been concerned with the contrast between the ephemeral and the eternal. Human beings have always sought ways to overcome time, and to prove that death is not the end. This book consists then in an exploration of certain closely related ideas: personal identity, time, history and our commitment to the future, and the role of imagination in life.

Warnock argues in particular that the notion of personal immortality, as it appears in Christian dogma, cannot be taken literally. Nevertheless, as a metaphor, immortality may illuminate both our relation with the past, our understanding of the present and our responsibility for the future. In the course of the argument, philosophical themes of personal identity, of history, and of values, are explored, as well as the cognitive content of the imagination.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (December 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631190198
• ISBN-13: 978-0631190196
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,206,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A SECULAR RE-CONCEPTUALIZATION OF IMMORTALITY, July 26, 2001

By 

Christine Jonker (Stellenbosch, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imagination and Time (Paperback)

This book will probably appeal only to a limited audience: academics might find Warnock's treatment of the classical philosophical problem of the imagination lacking in rigour, while lay persons, on the other hand, might find parts of it too technical. Nevertheless, someone with a general interest in the nature of the imagination, its function in human existence, and its role in creating meaning, will find this a satisfying read, as I did. The author neither offers an own strictly delineated theory of the imagination, nor does she seek to systematically support or challenge existing theories. Instead she examines the nature of human imagination in order to stress its function in the creation of personal identity, history, and the meaning of time. (The imagination is variously described as the source of artistic creativity or genius, the ability to go on flights of fancy, or simply as the capacity for bringing before the mind's eye what is not currently present to it). To this end she draws on the ideas of various thinkers including the ancient Greeks, Enlightenment philosophers, Romantic poets and more. This exercise is already of value as a simple historical introduction to the problem of the imagination. Her main objective lies however in suggesting a unified view of the imagination, identity and time which will explain how human beings manage to engage creatively and productively with life: Warnock argues that the imagination, by unlocking both the present and the past, engenders a sense of personal continuity, and allows sympathetic identification with the human race as a whole. The imagination lets you feel a part of something that existed before your birth and that will continue after your death, and so gives relevance and therefore meaning to what people achieve in their own lifetimes. Her suggestion is that this view is an acceptable (and also necessary) metaphorical alternative to the outdated religious/ metaphysical conception of immortality. A sense of continuity with the past and the future, a sense that stretches further than that of a single lifetime, is needed for people to feel their lives worthwhile. Whether or not her argument convinces, some interesting lines of thought and discussion may follow from it. I found the style of writing lucid and the expositions of classical philosophical arguments accessible, although some points were perhaps over-clarified or pedestrian. The book will prove easy reading to anyone who has rudimentary familiarity with Continental philosophy and/ or Linguistic Analysis. Alternatively it could serve as a good introduction to someone interested in, but unfamiliar with, philosophical thinking. Whether it will prove enjoyable reading should depend on the interests of the particular reader: I personally think it will appeal more to the poetic than to the scientific personality. Although the book raises more questions than it pretends to or can answer, and despite not treating its subject as thoroughly and meticulously as it might have, it nevertheless provides for informative and stimulating reading.