Thin imagination is vague and partial, whereas thick imagination combines ideas, philosophy, programmes and detailed implementation. Most influential ideas achieve their impact by becoming thick in this sense, as well as through repetition.
Thin imagination is vague and partial, whereas thick imagination combines ideas, philosophy, programmes and detailed implementation. Most influential ideas achieve their impact by becoming thick in this sense, as well as through repetition.
Saved by Keely Adler and
All four dimensions of the imaginary need to evolve in harmony for imaginative ideas to last; they gather around them meanings and associations and become part of people’s identity. Visions that remain only visions do not survive, but equally, practical ideas that don’t have any supporting superstructure of ideas tend not to thrive because they lac
... See moreThe philosopher A.N. Whitehead suggested that learning happens in three stages: first there is romance, then there is precision and then comes generalisation. Something similar happens with ideas.
Imagination is like thin air, cloud-like. Imagination only truly influences the world when it ceases to be imagination and mutates into repetitions, habits and cycles, becoming embedded in the rhythms of daily life, a part of people’s jobs and routines. Societies are best understood as patterns of regularity of this kind—what Pierre Bourdieu descri
... See morethis is where wisdom comes in, to temper and guide imagination, sensitive to the particularities of time and place.
Imagination creates a larger possibility space from which to choose, and if we can communicate our imagination in compelling ways, we open up a larger possibility space for others too, helping them to realise that they could overcome discrimination, adopt other diets, take pride in being transgender, or help to make digital commons.
All that imagination can do is widen our menu of choices. It then remains for us to have the wisdom to choose well, avoiding the bad, the bullshit and the ugly.