In my previous post, I shared a video of Professor Susan James's paper 'Emotional Responses to Fiction: A Spinozist Approach' where she explores, amongst other things, the role of the imagination and imagining our way to cooperatively living together. As I mentioned, this is a very original paper and is part of a body of work she has done, both in Spinoza and feminism. It is also very cutting-edge so addresses contemporary issues.
The positive role of the imagination is recently trending more than ever. In 2015, the Institute of Imagination (IOI in London, UK) was officially launched but the idea for this institute was conceived 4 years earlier and is continually expanding its mission and activities. It's website is available at:
Although this institute has children at the centre of its mission, its values, I think, apply to everyone in society. In other words, it's not just children and their families that benefit from using their imagination alongside reasoning as part of the thinking process, but also the entire adult population, including those without children. A great visual illustration of this can be found on page 9 of the IOI's vision statement, showing how both the imagination and reasoning contribute to thinking:
The IOI shows how utilising our imaginative faculties is not only related to the arts but to the sciences as well, which is highly relevant to the issue of involving girls in science. Maybe this will help girls to imagine themselves as scientists and enjoy science without preconceived gender stereotypes. Hopefully they'll see it as involving the imagination as much as the arts. I think this would be a good and creative way of encouraging girls into science, something which International Women and Girls in Science day tries to promote. I discuss this in more detail in my blog posts, see:
http://marchingasonefeministblog.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/feminism-and-international-day-of-women.html
How could a more imaginative approach help girls overcome gender stereotypes? By re-imaging themselves in society so they can transcend received gender biased concepts which restrict their vision of who they are and what they can be and achieve. As Susan James eloquently put it in her feminist essay 'Freedom and the Imaginary':
"...attention to the social imaginary is crucial. If women are to do more than reiterate oppressive or deferent forms of life, we need to reflect on the inherent images through which we understand ourselves, and on the processes through which we may internalise them or change them."James, S. (2002) 'Freedom and the Imaginary' in Visible Women, ed. James, S. Palmer, S., Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, Oregon
Indeed, we can see the positive use of the imagination for society as a whole in the Global Campaign for the Imagination, supported by the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who says:
“Creativity and imagination are at the heart of why London is a leading global city where business, education and culture can flourish. To remain a great world city, we need to keep the best ideas flowing. That’s why I’m backing the Imagination Matters campaign, it will fire up the imaginations of the next generation and help keep London at the top of its game.”available at: http://ioi.london/latest/mayor-london-joins-campaign-for-imagination/
I think Susan James's Spinozistic Approach (in her works) to imagining our way to freedom and existing together cooperatively somewhat captures recent developments in other fields too, such as Sugata Mitra's 'A Matter of Imagination' where he concludes:
"If a future ‘exists’, then it is actualised into the present and then into the past..."
"If this is so, then imagination is material in a strange, upside down, kind of way.
Our very existence then would depend on our ability to
imagine a future.
imagine a future.
A future that will create our present."
available at:
