Image credit: Jennifer Vanderpool, Youngstown to Liverpool, 2020, 84"x 84", courtesy of the artist.
We look closely at the fringes of social phenomena, we push unusual perspectives, and we take minority views seriously. Our shared question is: What do neglected forms of social imagination add to the project of achieving a better social world? Our work combines approaches from social epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind and emotions.
Social philosophers and theorists often imagine a better world. One strand of thinking, popular in political philosophy, fixates on creating models of a just society. Relatedly, philosophers have tended to valorise certain means of social change: through theory, reasoned debate and argument. More subtle means of persuasion, or the use of rhetoric, empathy, art and emotion, are viewed with suspicion. The Social Imagination Collective approaches things differently. While we recognise the force and value of a good argument, we want to explore the potential of other means of social change. What role can imagination, aesthetics and art play in social change? What is the function of the activist? How do empathy and embodied understanding help us better understand one another?
If objective reason has long been the dominant ideal for achieving social change, we study the alternatives to this ideal: here gathered under the label ‘social imagination’.
We are interested both in what some of these neglected forms of persuasion can bring to social discourse, and how existent, reason-governed institutions can be amended to become more socially responsible. To this end we combine work in various areas of philosophy: such as non-ideal epistemology, socially engaged philosophy of art and aesthetics, work on emotion in philosophy of science, and philosophical analyses of empathy.
We’ve pioneered new methodological approaches, such as our philosophy-in-residence programmes at cultural institutions. We often work with colleagues across disciplines, including in Politics, Media & Communications, and with the museums and galleries across Liverpool.
Members
Katherine Furman, Robin McKenna, Thomas Schramme, Vid Simoniti, Yiota Vassilopoulou, Tom Bunyard, Chris Earley, Laura Gow, Rachael Wiseman
PhD Researchers
Laura-Jayne Smith, Stella Sideli
Associated research centres
The Centre for Health, Arts, Society & Environment
Centre for Culture and Everyday Life
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