The role of imagination in making water from moon rocks: How scientists use imagination to break constraints on imagination.
Scientists recognize the necessity of imagination for solving tough problems. But how does the cognitive faculty responsible for daydreaming also help in solving scientific problems? Philosophers claim that imagination is informative only when it is constrained to be maximally realistic. However, us...
| Published in: | Analysis Vol. 85; no. 1; pp. 122 - 136 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jan2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=187976634&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 187976634 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00032638 7OX jtl: Analysis issn: 00032638 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2025 vid: 85 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 187976634 10.1093/analys/anae015 ppf: 122 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 841KB tig: atl: The role of imagination in making water from moon rocks: How scientists use imagination to break constraints on imagination. aug: au: Stuart, Michael T Sargeant, Hannah affil: University of York UK Aerospace Engineering University of Leicester UK su: Imagination Problem solving Fantasy (Psychology) Space sciences Externalism (Philosophy of mind) sug: subj: Imagination Problem solving Fantasy (Psychology) Space sciences Externalism (Philosophy of mind) keyword: externalism imagination internalism philosophy of imagination philosophy of space science reliabilism responsibilism space science ab: Scientists recognize the necessity of imagination for solving tough problems. But how does the cognitive faculty responsible for daydreaming also help in solving scientific problems? Philosophers claim that imagination is informative only when it is constrained to be maximally realistic. However, using a case study from space science, we show that scientists use imagination intentionally to break reality-oriented constraints. To do this well, they first target low-confidence constraints, and then progressively higher-confidence constraints until a plausible solution is found. This paper exemplifies a new approach to epistemology of imagination that focuses on sets of imaginings (rather than individual imaginings), and responsible (rather than reliable) imaginings. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: © 2019 The Analysis Trust. item: Analysis holder: Oxford University Press / USA dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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