Lectures on Imagination

“By its depth and the breadth of the path traveled, [Lectures on Imagination] stands out as nothing less than a centerpiece of the corpus.” * Le Monde des Livres | on the French edition *“This publication is of tremendous importance not only because of the centrality of the theme in Ricoeur’s oeuvre, but also because of the contribution that it makes to phenomenology, hermeneutics, post-Kantian European philosophy and philosophy of imagination. While imagination was a marginal theme in philosophy when Ricoeur delivered his lectures, today it has moved to the very center of intellectual discussions. The lectures include plenty of thought-provoking reflections that will continue to inspire thinkers writing on imagination, both in philosophy and beyond.” * Review of Metaphysics *“The much anticipated, posthumous publication of Paul Ricoeur’s Lectures on Imagination showcases his distinctive elucidation of the productive imagination as fiction, and, more generally, his sustained reflections on the overarching problematic of the imagination… The absence of a published, systematic engagement with the question of the (productive) imagination in Ricoeur’s lifetime only makes the Imagination Lectures more significant.” * International Journal of Social Imaginaries *“This volume is an essential text for anyone interested in understanding how the human imagination works. With this careful translation, the editors have given us a necessary piece of Ricoeur’s towering contributions to the Western understanding of the creative imagination.” – John Arthos Jr., Indiana University“This eagerly awaited book invites the reader on a fascinating dive into the depths of human imagination. Tracing a philosophical history from Aristotle and Kant to Husserl and Wittgenstein, Ricoeur offers a unique take on the metaphorical power of fiction in poetry and painting. An indispensable book for anyone interested in the sheer pleasure of invention.” – Richard Kearney, Boston College“This articulately edited series of lectures reveals key insights into the fruitfulness of Ricoeur’s wide-ranging engagement with different intellectual traditions, including phenomenology, analytic philosophy, linguistics, and poetics.” – Roger W. H. Savage, University California–Los Angeles

Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) was the John Nuveen Professor in the Divinity School, the Department of Philosophy, and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. He was the author of many books, including Memory, History, Forgetting, Oneself as Another, and the three-volume Time and Narrative.

George H. Taylor is professor emeritus of law at the University of Pittsburgh.

Robert D. Sweeney (1929–2016) was the Don Shula Chair in Philosophy at John Carroll University.

Jean-Luc Amalric teaches at the CPGE Arts and Design in Nîmes and the Research Center for Arts and Language (CRAL), EHESS, Paris.

Patrick F. Crosby (1948–2020) was an independent Ricoeur scholar.