The Rational Imagination

How People Create Alternatives to Reality

By: Ruth M. J. Byrne

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Paperback | 26 January 2007

At a Glance

Paperback
268 Pages

Age
18+

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.42

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The human imagination remains one of the last uncharted terrains of the mind. This accessible and original monograph explores a central aspect of the imagination, the creation of counterfactual alternatives to reality, and claims that imaginative thoughts are guided by the same principles that underlie rational thoughts. Research has shown that rational thought is more imaginative than cognitive scientists had supposed; in "The Rational Imagination," Ruth Byrne argues that imaginative thought is more rational than scientists have imagined. People often create alternatives to reality and imagine how events might have turned out "if only" something had been different. Byrne explores the "fault lines" of reality, the aspects of reality that are more readily changed in imaginative thoughts. She finds that our tendencies to imagine alternatives to actions, controllable events, socially unacceptable actions, causal and enabling relations, and events that come last in a temporal sequence provide clues to the cognitive processes upon which the counterfactual imagination depends. The explanation of these processes, Byrne argues, rests on the idea that imaginative thought and rational thought have much in common.

Industry Reviews

"In this lucid and beautifully written book Byrne builds a sturdy bridge between the theories of counterfactual thought and inferential reasoning. The integrated treatment that she proposes is a major contribution to both fields."--Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2002) "'Knowing what I now know, I would still have authorized the President to go to war.' John Kerry. If you want to understand why such conditionals matter, then you should read this book. It brings together an account of rationality and creativity to present a unique and powerful theory of how we think about alternatives to reality." Philip N. Johnson-Laird , Stuart Professor of Psychology, Princeton University "'Knowing what I now know I would still have authorized the President to go to war' - John Kerry. If you want to understand why such conditionals matter then you should read this book. It brings together an account of rationality and creativity to present a unique and powerful theory of how we think about alternatives to reality."--Philip N. Johnson-Laird, Stuart Professor of Psychology, Princeton University

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Psychology Cognition & Cognitive Psychology Science Science in General Philosophy History of Western Philosophy Medieval & Renaissance Philosophy

Preface	p. xi
The Counterfactual Imagination
Imagination	p. 2
Summary	p. 14
Imagination and Rational Thought
Rational Thought	p. 16
Rational Thought and Imaginative Thought	p. 30
The Rationality of the Counterfactual Imagination	p. 38
Summary	p. 40
Imagining How Actions Might Have Been Different
"If Only ..." Alternatives to Actions	p. 43
Clues from Reasoning: Counterfactual Conditionals	p. 48
The Rational Imagination: Why People Imagine Alternatives to Actions	p. 52
Summary	p. 66
Thinking about What Should Have Happened
People Say "If Only ..." about What Should Not Have Happened	p. 69
Clues from Reasoning: Inferences about Obligations	p. 74
The Rational Imagination: Why People Focus on Forbidden Fruit	p. 87
Obligations and Domain-Specific Possibilities	p. 92
Summary	p. 97
Causal Relations and Counterfactuals
The Focus of Counterfactual and Causal Thoughts	p. 100
Clues from Reasoning: Strong Causal and Enabling Relations	p. 106
The Rational Imagination: Why Counterfactual and Causal Thoughts Differ	p. 118
Summary	p. 126
"Even If ..."
People Imagine Semifactual Alternatives	p. 130
Clues from Reasoning: "Even if ..." Conditionals and Inferences	p. 137
The Rational Imagination: Imagined and Semifactuals and Causality	p. 145
The Hidden Possibility	p. 149
Summary	p. 155
The "Last Chance"
People Focus on Recent Events	p. 157
Clues from Reasoning: The Case of "Only If" Conditionals	p. 158
The Rational Imagination: Why People Change Recent Events	p. 167
Summary	p. 179
Individuals and Creative Thoughts
Individual Differences in Imaginative Thoughts	p. 182
Creative Thoughts	p. 190
Summary	p. 196
The Idea of a Rational Imagination
Reality and Other Possibilities	p. 198
The Rationality of the Counterfactual Imagination	p. 208
Summary	p. 214
References	p. 217
Index	p. 243
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

The Rational Imagination

How People Create Alternatives to Reality

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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