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The nature, the importance, and even the existence of mental images is a subject of dispute amongst psychologists and philosophers. On the one hand it seems evident that normal people enjoy a moderately rich inner life, in which remembered scenes, tunes, tastes, and smells can be conjured up and new versions created and relished; the state of mind once this is done is somehow like but also quite unlike the state of seeing, hearing, and tasting original things. Images are typically ‘faint’ or ‘blurry’, but merely imagining a tiger does not differ from seeing a tiger only in its faintness or blurriness, or it would resemble seeing a tiger in a fog or poor light, which it does not. Furthermore an imagined tiger, unlike any actual tiger, need not have a definite number of stripes or claws. It is not therefore simply an ‘inner picture’ of a tiger, and visual images are unlike pictures in other ways as well: for instance they cannot withstand scrutiny, and there is a limit to the manipulations one can make while retaining them. The view that images play a fundamental role in thinking was attacked by Wittgenstein, one of whose arguments was that if they are thought of as inner presences that explain, for instance, capacities for recognition and classification, then we must ask how they themselves are recognized and classified. The shadowy nature of images has led some philosophers to think of them as a useless adjunct to underlying cognitive processes of representation, not themselves part of the machinery. But it is likely that evolution will favour an animal with the capacity to generate an ‘off-line’ simulation of experiencing various situations, perhaps in order to rehearse successful strategies. Hostility to images also makes it difficult to account for their central role in the creative lives especially of non-linguistic thinkers, such as artists and musicians. See also idea.

Philosophy dictionary. . 2011.

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  • Image — Image …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • IMAGE — Même limitée aux arts visuels, l’image ne peut être séparée des racines profondes qu’elle a dans la mémoire, l’imagination, la pensée ou le rêve. L’image est sans nul doute l’objet de réflexion le plus rebelle aux classifications par genres et… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • image — im‧age [ˈɪmɪdʒ] noun [countable] 1. MARKETING the general opinion that most people have of a person, organization, product etc: • Law suits hurt a company s image and may hinder future fund raising. • A good advertising campaign will promote a… …   Financial and business terms

  • Image — bezeichnet das innere Gesamt und Stimmungsbild bzw. den Gesamteindruck, den eine Mehrzahl von Menschen von einem Meinungsgegenstand hat (z. B. von einer Person oder Personengruppe, von einer Organisation, von einer Stadt oder Ortschaft, von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • image — IMAGE. s. f. Representation d une chose en sculpture, peinture, graveure. Les images des faux Dieux. les images des Saints. une belle image. une image bien faite, bien ressemblante. l image du Roy. briser, rompre les images. abattre les images.… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Image — Im age ([i^]m [asl]j; 48), n. [F., fr. L. imago, imaginis, from the root of imitari to imitate. See {Imitate}, and cf. {Imagine}.] 1. An imitation, representation, or similitude of any person, thing, or act, sculptured, drawn, painted, or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • IMAGE — im Reinraum Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE, auch Explorer 78) war ein Forschungssatellit der NASA, der als Explorer Mission der MIDEX Klasse (Middle sized Explorer) die Einflüsse des Sonnenwinds auf die Magnetosphäre… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • IMAGE — (from Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration ), or Explorer 78, was a NASA MIDEX mission that studied the global response of the Earth s magnetosphere to changes in the solar wind. It was launched March 25, 2000 by a Delta II rocket …   Wikipedia

  • Image — Sn Bild von jmd. in der Öffentlichkeit erw. fremd. Erkennbar fremd (20. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus ne. image, dieses aus frz. image f., älter afrz. imagene Bild , aus l. imāgo ( ginis) f. Bild, Bildnis, Abbild . Entfernt verwandt ist die… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • image — Image, ou resemblance et pourtraict fait sur le vif, Effigies, Expressa imago, Icon. Image et semblance ou representation de quelque chose, Idolum idoli. Image et semblance d aucun, Imago imaginis. Une statue et image de pierre ou de bois, Statua …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • image — 1 Image, effigy, statue, icon, portrait, photograph, mask all mean a lifelike representation especially of a living being. Image (see also SENSATION 1) in its earliest English sense denotes a sculptured, cast, or modeled representation (as of a… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

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