The Hidden Image: A Defense of Unconscious Imagining and Its Importance

The attribution of unconscious imagining can seem objectionable for a variety of reasons: because unconscious images suggest inner representations where there are only conditioned habits, because images by their very nature must be conscious, or because the relevant images should be viewed as societal rather than individual. This paper responds to these objections by attending to the details of some specific cases, and it uses these cases as the basis for a more general account of what unconscious imagining involves. By clarifying the relation between unconscious imagining and unconscious believing, on the one hand, and between unconscious imagining and conscious imagining, on the other, it is possible to see how unconscious imagining plays an important and distinctive role in guiding our actions and our perceptions.