The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination

The human imagination manifests in countless different forms. We dream the possible and the impossible. How do we do this so effortlessly? Why did the capacity for imagination evolve and seem to manifest uniquely in our species? This handbook reflects on such questions by collecting perspectives on imagination from leading experts. It showcases a rich and detailed analysis on how imagination is understood across several disciplines of study, including anthropology, archaeology, medicine, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and the arts. An integrated theoretical-empirical-applied picture of the field is presented, which informs researchers, students, and practitioners about the issues of relevance across the board when considering imagination. With each chapter, human imagination is explained – what it entails, how it evolved, and why it singularly defines us as a species.