Narrative as the means to Freedom: Spinoza on the uses of imagination

Abstract

As with any narrative, imaginative thinking expresses the point of view of a narrator and puts together a more or less coherent story about what is going on. There are two potential sources of insight into the project of creating ways of life that will accommodate both our desire to pursue individual goals and our dependence on other people. One of them, philosophical reasoning, is universalist; the other, imagining, is particularist. The doctrine of the Scriptures says that the only way to gain political freedom is to legislate for oneself a law that upholds the common good. Spinoza represents the emergence of a strong imaginative basis of cooperation as a significant conceptual transition in the history of humanity. The way of life endorsed by reason needs to be brought within imaginative reach if it is to mold our desires and actions.

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