Building blocks of imagination

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Building blocks of imagination
 
Creator Jones, Chris van den Heever, Juri
 
Subject Science; history; evolution Animal imagination; Anthropomorphism; Cognition; Evolutionary biology; Human ancestors; Human imagination; Mental awareness; Religion
Description In the human context, the ubiquitous faculty of imagination is taken for granted. Whether we are singularly equipped with this ability or whether it is an evolved faculty also present in other life forms is a question that has been an issue ever since Darwin. A variety of research projects have indicated the presence of mental processes in non-human taxa and the faculty of imagination developed with increasing complexity over time, to its present status in humans. As an evolved faculty, encompassing a variety of non-humans, it serves as a useful tool to ascertain and understand the origins and unique quality of human mental processes, even to the extent of informing certain medical issues and problems in education. Several pointers exist that argue for human imagination as an evolved faculty that is shared within broad spectrum of taxa. Paleoanthropological research has provided insights as to the role of imagination in the early manifestations of religious behaviour in humans, the construction of effective stone tools by anatomically modern humans employing pyro technology, as well as their ability to mentally link ostensibly non-related natural phenomena like tidal fluctuations and the phases of the moon.Contribution: This review article explores imagination as an evolved faculty in an intersectional and interdisciplinary manner. This evolutionary reflection fits well with the purpose and inclusive nature of this special collection on the building blocks of our past, present and future.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2023-11-20
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — qualitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v79i2.8925
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 79, No 2 (2023); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8925/25991 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8925/25992 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8925/25993 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8925/25994
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Chris Jones, Juri van den Heever https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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