Dialogical Imaginations: Aisthesis as Social Perception and New Ideas of Humanism

We tend to think of imagination as private, originating from our innermost selves-and language as something that is created in communication. Turning this idea on its head, the contributors to *Dialogical Imaginations* start from the provocative premise that imagination and language are both inherently social constructs that determine how we perceive the world. In addition, the idea of imagination as a dialogical formation, where dialogue within the self can raise questions and can open up new topics for consideration, may also be applied to how societies as a whole perceive their own conditions. With contributors from a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, media and film studies, art history, literature, and sociology, the book considers a wide variety of cultural manifestations of social perception. In the process, it offers a reevaluation of he concept of humanism, addressing key criticisms of by Foucault, Butler, and others.