Facing Proteus: The Neuroscience of Imagination and the Imagination of Neuroscienc

This research explores the phenomenon of imagination through a hermeneutic integration of both humanistic and neuroscientific perspectives. Imagination is first looked at historically, philosophically and depth psychologically as understandings of the topic have developed throughout Western civilization, beginning in Ancient Greece and proceeding into the modern era. Imagination is then considered scientifically through the lens of contemporary neuroscience, with emphasis on mental imagery, the relationship between imagination and perception, the construction of narrative and memory, studies of creativity and dreams, and finally the measurable impact imagination can have on the physiological body through studies of neuroplasticity and placebo. To guard against a collapse into solely materialist accounts of imagination, the final part of the research explores and outlines the important role that imagination plays in the construction of scientific knowledge in general, and neuroscientific knowledge in particular. By proceeding via this reciprocal perspective, imagination is treated as an irreducible phenomenon, one that neuroscience can fruitfully study but not fully contain. By seeking even-handed balance between quantitative analysis and subjective phenomenological experience of the imaginal, this dissertation argues that imagination, far from being unreal, lies at the heart of the human condition.