Capstone Proposal

My topic is truly a discussion and comparison of how the imagination plays a role in reality but
also what the two are separately. Imagination, by many philosophers is simply another facet of
the mind, some say a decaying sense of one's past before death, some simply say a way to
compound already known thoughts to create new ideas. Yet the idea that I have found stands so
heavily above the rest is the concept of imagination being an extract of reality, an umbrella term
if you will. The first step in this writing will be to understand just exactly what the imagination is,
even with multiple personas, I will ideally take the multiple perceptions of the imagination and
attempt to define it into something tangible enough to compare to reality and existence itself. A
way to put it off the bat is, take any other animal, many animals exist in accordance with nature,
they exist within the same life and day-in day-out lifestyle only until nature says otherwise.
Natural selection, overrun by other stronger species, yet humans seem to be different, they
reject nature's ideology and live on their means and not the means the world has provided. This
is a large aspect of what imagination is, the ability to IMAGINE into the future based on
understanding of the current.

Annotated Bibliography
● Bond, Donald F. “The Neo-Classical Psychology of the Imagination.” ELH, vol. 4, no. 4,
1937, pp. 245–64. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2871632. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
● The Neo-Classical Psychology of Imagination
○ This Article describes the interworking of the imagination and the difference
between the reality and the abstract. The article references religion and other
abstract concepts, overall the article points out the differences between that which
is abstract and that which falls into the category of imagination as apparently
there is a difference.
● Ricoeur, Paul. “The Metaphorical Process as Cognition, Imagination, and Feeling.”
Critical Inquiry, vol. 5, no. 1, 1978, pp. 143–59. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1342982. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
● The Metaphorical Process as Cognition, Imagination, and Feeling
○ This article highlights the role of the imagination within the metaphorical process.
It discusses the change of schemas and how it relates to the metaphorical process.
The author then delves into the concept of poetic language and how it includes
and uses metaphors to create realities.
● Barron, Frank. “The Psychology of Imagination.” Scientific American, vol. 199, no. 3,
1958, pp. 150–69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24941114. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
● The Psychology of Imagination
 ○ In this article Barron delves into the different viewpoint of imagination from a
cognitive, emotional, and creative point of view and the affects imagination has
on each. Barron goes on to discuss how imagination is much different than normal
thinking as it is the part of humans able to develop hypothetical scenarios for the
future and engage in divergent thinking.
● Hobbes, Thomas. "Leviathan." Social Science History on Hobbes, Filmer and Locke,
Mar.-Apr. 1651, studymore.org.uk/xhob02.htm. Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
● Hobbes's “Leviathan”
○ In this article Hobbes goes into discussion of imagination saying that the
imagination is a “decaying sense.” He goes on to say it is simply lingering
memories and impressions from past experiences. Hobbes states the imagination
can take many forms that include past memories but also create experiences that
have zero correlation with an individual's current reality.
● Reichling, Mary J. “Images of Imagination.” Journal of Research in Music Education,
vol. 38, no. 4, 1990, pp. 282–93. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3345225. Accessed 9
Feb. 2024.
● Images of Imagination
○ This article by Mary J. Reichling explores the imagination and places into four
different categories: Intuition, Perception, Thinking, and Feeling. Each of these
different categories have different thinking associated with each creating different
experiences with each.