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"Contemporary philosophical discussions of the imagination have been primarily focused on three sets of topics. Work in philosophy of mind and philosophy of psychology has explored a cluster of issues concerning the phenomenology and cognitive architecture of imagination, examining the ways that imagination differs from and resembles other mental states both phenomenologically and functionally, and investigating the roles that imagination may play in the understanding of self and others, and in the representation of past, future and counterfactual scenarios. Work in aesthetics has focused on issues related to imaginative engagement with fictional characters and events, identifying and offering resolutions to a number of (apparent) paradoxes. And work in modal epistemology has focused on the extent to which imaginability-and its cousin conceivability-can serve as guides to possibility."

"There is no "but" about what happened at Charlie Hebdo yesterday. Some people published some cartoons, and some other people killed them for it.  Words and pictures can be beautiful or vile, pleasing or enraging, inspiring or offensive; but they exist on a different plane from physical violence, whether you want to call that plane spirit or imagination or culture, and to meet them with violence is an offense against the spirit and imagination and culture that distinguish humans. Nothing mitigates this monstrosity. There will be time to analyze why the killers did it, time to parse their backgrounds, their ideologies, their beliefs, time for sociologists and psychologists to add to understanding. There will be explanations, and the explanations will be important, but explanations aren't the same as excuses. Words don't kill, they must not be met by killing, and they will not make the killers' culpability go away."

"Speaking to the BBC, he said that the telling of fairytales had pros and cons. "On the one hand you might expect it would inculcate supernaturalism as real." But at the same time it might have a "beneficial effect" as the child learns there are stories which are not true and which one grows out of. "A degree of magical content supports imaginative development," says Prof Yvonne Kelly of University College London, "and the transmission of the story is important as it creates intimacy, routine and a bonding experience. "Children who listen to stories show better results in measures such as literacy tests and SATs - but also in terms of social and emotional development.""

"Before his untimely death in 1987 at age 45, Cecil Youngfox had established himself as one of Canada's leading native artists, renowned for his vivid, sensitive images of native cultural traditions. Today, his strong, imaginative vision remains as strong as ever, drawing the respect and interest of private and public collectors throughout the world. Mr. Youngfox was born in 1942 in Blind River, Ontario of Ojibway and Metis parents. Among the many honours bestowed on him, Mr. Youngfox received the Aboriginal Order of Canada for his work in preserving his native heritage."

In The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, Tali Sharot argues that we have a neurobiological basis for imagining a positive future. "Humans," she writes, "do not hold a positivity bias on account of having read too many self-help books. Rather, optimism may be so essential to our survival that it is hardwired into our most complex organ, the brain."

"Baber lets his surroundings serve as his orchestra and his inspiration: "It all came from when I was a little kid hearing the spokes of my bike and imagining, 'Oh, I wish I could play that like I could play these other instruments." Lately he has been doing just that: making music from sounds created by bicycle parts. "There's something really exciting and fascinating about discovering these sounds that maybe nobody's ever made on a bike," Baber said."

"Descartes's Arguments for Universal Doubt and the "Cogito" Argument (An Outline of Meditations 1,2) The argument for universal doubt: A. The dream argument: 1. I often have perceptions very much like the ones I usually have in sensation while I am dreaming. 2. There are no definite signs to distinguish dream experience from waking experience. therefore,"

In this classic talk on creativity, John Cleese talks about finding your "open" and "closed" modes of creativity (viewing time = 36 mins, 10 secs.):