On the Principles of Imagination and Creativity

Abstract

Human beings are the only mammals to be able to utilize high-level cognitive functions to build knowledge, innovate, and communicate their complex ideas. Imagination, creativity, and innovation are interlinked in the sense that one leads to the other. This chapter details the concepts of imagery, imagination, and creativity and their inter-relationships in the first section. Next, the author discusses the historical perspectives of imagination pertaining to the accounts of famous philosophers and psychologists like Aristotle, Kant, Hume, Descartes, Sartre, Husserl, and Wittgenstein. Section 3 and 4 present the neuro-biological correlates of imagination and creativity, respectively. Brain regions, neuronal circuits, genetic basis, as well as the evolutionary perspective of imagination and creativity are elicited in these sections. Finally, creativity and innovation are explored as to how they will contribute to knowledge build-up and advances in science, engineering, and business in the fourth industrial revolution and the imagination age.