Phenomenological Analysis of the ‘Faculty of Imagination’ and Its Methods of Management from the Perspective of Ibn Sina

Azizi Alavijeh, Mostafa

doi:10.48308/jipt.2025.239171.1617

Phenomenological Analysis of the ‘Faculty of Imagination’ and Its Methods of Management from the Perspective of Ibn Sina

Document Type : Scientific-research

Author

Mostafa Azizi Alavijeh

Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Wisdom and Religious Studies, Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran.

10.48308/jipt.2025.239171.1617

Abstract

One of the inner faculties of the human soul is the creative imagination (quwwa mutakhayyila), which is inherently dynamic and highly active. When conditions are conducive to imaginative activity, it wastes no time in engaging in fantasy. This faculty has unrestricted access to both the storehouse of images (phantasia) and memory, and whenever the intellect is inattentive or idle, the imagination seizes the moment to construct its own fictions. Its primary function lies in combining disparate forms and separating conjoined ones, playing a pivotal role in shaping internal experiences. Among classical scholars, Ibn Sīnā paid particular attention to the phenomenological aspects of imagination and proposed systematic methods for its regulation and discipline. These include: continuous supervision by the rational faculty, restricting access to the reservoir of images, purposeful and methodical utilization of imagination under the guidance of reason, spiritual and ethical refinement of the soul, maintaining physical health and balanced temperament, fulfilling bodily needs, cultivating truthfulness, and avoiding deceit. This study, employing a rational-analytical method, first examines the phenomenological features of the creative imagination and then explores Ibn Sina’s strategies for its management, along with the psychological, ethical, and existential consequences of unrestrained imaginative activity.

Keywords

References

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