Imagination and Principles An Essay on the Role of Imagination in Moral Reasoning

What does it mean to say that imagination plays a role in moral reasoning, and what are the theoretical and practical implications? Engaging with three traditions in moral theory and confronting them with three contexts of moral practice, this book offers a more comprehensive framework to think about these questions. The author develops an argument about the relation between imagination and principles that moves beyond competition metaphors and center-periphery schemas. He shows that both cooperate and are equally necessary to cope with moral problems, and combines insights of different theories and disciplines to explore how this works in practice.

MARK COECKELBERGH PhD, University of Birmingham, UK, has been a lecturer in Philosophy at Maastricht University and has worked on several interdisciplinary research projects. He is the author of Liberation and Passion (2002) and The Metaphysics of Autonomy (2004) as well as numerous articles in the area of professional ethics and the ethics of technology.