Abstract

The article addresses Malebranche's account of imagination. The author's aim is to shed light on its original features, showing that the analysis of imagination provided is typical of the multidimensional approach Malebranche seeks to develop in what he calls his "science de l'homme". Using metaphysics and biology, as well as a psychology based on the analysis of inner feelings, passions, and the mechanisms of contagion of affects and beliefs, Malebranche describes imagination as the result of mind and body interaction. More precisely, though he is inspired by Descartes in many ways, Malebranche lays more emphasis on the corporeal side of imagination, which he considers to play a central role for both the constitution of subjectivity and the development of interpersonal relationships.