Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2007 - Volume 30, Issue 5-6  

Open Peer Commentary

Is considering true possibilities a truly explanatory principle for imaginative thought?

Thomas B. Warda1

a1 Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. tward@bama.ua.edu http://bama.ua.edu/~tward

Abstract

Byrne (2005) demonstrates that reasoning and imagination are logical and governed by the same processing principles. In extending those principles to other forms of imaginative functioning, however, problems arise. The meaning of “true possibility” is stretched, and the causal role of the principles is not well established. Nevertheless, consideration of the extent to which ordinary cognitive processes govern creative functioning is valuable.

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    Précis of The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality Ruth M. J. Byrne School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland rmbyrne@tcd.ie http://www.tcd.ie/Psychology/Ruth_Byrne/