Imaginatio. Knowing about Imaginative Visions. Theories of Mental Imagery in Medieval Philosophy and Theology (B03)

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Against the background of medieval theories of the soul and taking into consideration the entanglement of Latin, Hebrew and Arabic traditions, the research project is going to investigate, how theological conceptualizations of a visio Dei provoke discussions about the imaginative faculty (imaginatio) and the state of mental images. Focussing on concepts of imagina-tive visions (i. e. revealed dreams, journeys of the soul, prophetic visions) it deals with the fundamental paradox, that the spiritual experience of a revelation always requires an indirect, extramental confirmation through artistic or literary modes of depiction. This tension has far reaching implications for aesthetic debates as well as concerning the epistemic status of figurative knowledge.