The Misadventures of the Imagination

In occidental culture, the dismissive treatment reserved for the imagination coincides with the implementation of a theory of knowledge based exclusively on understanding and reason. This gnoseology leaves aside any possibility of establishing a sensible, corporeal link between the subject that knows and the known object. Res extensa/res cogitans: with this famous dichotomy, Descartes enthrones the philosophical dualism that illuminates the whole history of western philosophy, from the myth of Plato's cave to the emergence from immanence by Husserl's intentionality. My paper tells the story of this deep-rooted desire to objectify knowledge, making it independent from the subject. This is what reflects the sacrifice of imagination.