58³Ô¹Ï

A one-day workshop on the philosophy of imagination, addressing such questions as: What is the epistemic role of imagination? How does it work in our engagement with fiction and in thought experiments? How does it help with planning ahead? How does it relate to inner speech and to other attitudes, such as belief and desire?

Sponsored by the Arché projects:

Aesthetic Values and the Social Dimensions of Science (DFG Research Grant)

What If… ? Knowing by Imagining (WIKI) (Leverhulme Trust Grant)

Wednesday, 6 May 2026 @ 9am to 5pm, Edgecliffe, The Scores, Room G03

SCHEDULE (Note: All times are in GMT):

9:00 – [Welcome and coffee]

9:30-10:20 – Nick Wiltsher (58³Ô¹Ï) ‘Fiction Without I-Belief’

10:30-11:20 – Petronella Randell (58³Ô¹Ï) ‘Imagining the Worst: on the Permissibility of Catastrophising’

11:30-12:20 – Justin d’Ambrosio (58³Ô¹Ï) ‘Inner Speech: An Attentional View’

[Lunch break]

14:00-14:50 – Mike Stuart (York) ‘Epistemological Consequences of Defining Imagination as a Skill’

15:00-15:50 – Alice Murphy (58³Ô¹Ï) and William D’Alessandro (William & Mary) ‘Imagination, Methodology and Ontology’

16:00-16:50 – Amy Kind (Claremont McKenna) ‘Imagination, Fantasy, and Desire’