Essay on the Creative Imagination

by Th. Ribot

[167] See Conclusion, [II], above.

[168] B...... is not an architect.

[169] We see that the speaker is a visualizer.

---

INDEX.

Absent images, Association of, [94].
Abstraction, [15];
Late appearance of, [146].
Abulics, [11].
Activity, normal end of imagination, [11].
Adaptation of means to end, [264].
Advance plans in commerce, [288].
Adventure, Eras of, [287].
Affective states, Rôle of, [8].
Alcoholic liquors, [74].
Alembert, d', [87].
Alexander, [138], [142], [143].
Alfieri, [56].
Allen, [150].
Americans, change occupations, [257].
Analogy, [299];
Abuse of, [305];
based on qualitative resemblance, [26];
essential to creative imagination, [25];
not trustworthy in science, [27];
Rôle of, in primitive life, [125];
Thinking by, [117].
Anatomical conditions, [65].
Anger, [34].
Animal fancy, [97].
Animals, Association fibers or centers, lacking in, [100];
Discoveries of, [98];
Imagination in, [93], [94];
Usefulness of, to man, [274].
Animism, [107], [189];
of primitives, [123].
Anticipations of later inventions, [277].
Apollo, [50].
Apperception, Importance of, [16].
Apprehensio simplex, a logical figment, [110].
Arago, [145].
Aristotle, vi, [134], [141].
Art, Indefiniteness of modern, [203];
Realistic, [250];
Various theories of, [46].
Artificial motors, Use of, a late development, [275].
Aryan race, [129].
Association, [22], [23];
Forms of, [196];
Laws of, [23];
of ideas, [59], [353];
of ideas, Criticism of the term, [23];
of ideas, Discovery depends on, [250];
suggests cause, [261].
Associational systems, [67].
Astral influences, [261].
Asyllogistic deduction, [283].
Attention, [86].
Australians, [285].
Automatisms, [71].
Azam, [325].
Bach, [69], [214], [216].
Bacon, Roger, [245], [303] [n.]
Baillarger, Dr., [324].
Baldwin, [104].
Barter, [286].
Baudelaire, [39], [55].
Beethoven, [52], [71], [148], [218].
Bernard, Claude, [52];
idée directrice of, [250].
Binet, [340].
Bipartite division of the brain, [67].
Bismarck, [271].
Blood circulation, Importance of, [70].
Boehme, Jacob, [335].
Bonnal, [298] [n.]
Borgia, Lucretia, [139].
Bossuet, [225].
Boulogne, De, [283].
Bourdeau, L., [272].
Brain- development and abstraction, [100];
regions, Development of, [67];
weights, [66].
Bramwell, [343].
Breguet, [277].
Brown-Séquard, [77].
Buddha, Life of, [301].
Buffon, [52], [73].
Byron, [145].
Cabalists, [234].
Cabalistic mysticism, [226].
Cabanis, [78].
Campanella, [303].
Carlyle, [150], [186].
Carpenter, [284], [339].
Carthage, [282].
Categories of images, [16].
Causality, Search for, [260].
Charcot, [6].
Charlemagne, [138].
Chateaubriand, [76].
Chatterton, [145].
Cherubini, [145].
Child, Adult misinterpretation of, [104];
Creative imagination in the, [103] ff.;
Exaggeration of his intelligence, [115];
Oscillation of belief and doubt in the, [113];
Stages of development, [105].
Child-study, Difficulties of, [104].
Chopin, [52], [215].
Chorea, [101].
Cid, The, [140].
Classes of discoverers, [249].
Classification, [181].
Coleridge, [37].
Colored hearing, [38].
Columbus, Christopher, [89].
Commerce, Combative element in, [295].
Commercial imagination, Conditions of, [281];
development due to increasing substitution, [287];
development, Stages of, [285].
Common factor in comparison, [40].
Complementary scientists, [246].
Complete images impossible, [16].
Comte, [146].
Condillac, [243].
Confucius, [300].
Confusion of impressions, [18].
Conjecture, beginning of science, [245].
Conscious imagination, a special case, [58].
Constellation, [59], [126].
Constitutions by philosophers, [309].
Contiguity and resemblance, [24].
Contrapuntists, [214].
Contrast, Association by, [40].
Cooperation, [309];
of intellect and feeling, [43].
Copernicus, [246].
Counter-world, [304].
Creation hindered by complete redintegration, [22];
in physiological inhibition, [6];
Motor basis of, [258];
Physiological and imaginative, [76];
versus repetition, [5].
Creative imagination, a growth, [9];
Composite character of, [12];
conditioned by knowledge, [173];
either esthetic or practical, [44];
implies feeling, [32];
Neglect of, by writers on psychology, [vii];
Reasons for, [313].
Creative instinct, non-existent, [42].
Crisis, not essential, [58].
Critical stage of investigation, [252].
Cromwell, [144].
Cumulative inventions, [272].
Curiosity, [99];
of primitive man, [45], [131].
Cuvier, [183].
Daedalus, [269].
Dante, [205].
Darwin, [117], [346].
Dauriac, [350].
Deduction, Process of, [283].
Deffant, Madame du, [48].
Deities, Coalescence of, [200];
Momentary, [199];
Multiplicity of Roman, [125].
Delboef, [342].
DeQuincy, [55].
Descartes, [73], [294].
Determinism, Neglect of, by idealists, [303];
of art, [278];
of invention, [264].
Dewey, John, [132] [n.]
Dialectic, Hegelian, [254].
Diffluent imagination, [196] ff.
Dii minores, [269].
Disinterestedness of the artist, [35].
Dissociation, [15], [268];
by concomitant variations, [21];
of series, [19].
Double personality, [325].
Dreams, [38];
Emotional persistence of, [324].
Drugs, Effect of, [55];
Use of, as excitants, [70].
Dualism of Fourier, [306].
Dürer, [145].
Egypt, [135].
Egyptian conception of causality, [260].
Emotion, and sensation, [38];
material for imagination, [33];
presupposes unsatisfied needs, [32];
Realization of, [80].
Emotional abstraction, [196];
factor, [31] ff.
Empedocles, [136].
Epic, Rise of the, [138].
Essenes, [307].
Esthetic imagination,
contrasted to mechanical, [264];
Fixity of, [264].
Ethics, Living and dead, [302].
Euclid, [244], [245].
Eureka, Moment of, [247], [302].
Evolution of commerce, Law's statement of, [294].
Exact knowledge requisite in commerce, [289].
Expansion of self, [314].
Experience requisite for literary invention, [146].
External factors, [21].
Facts and general ideas, [252].
Faith, [112];
-cure, [6];
highest in semi-science, [241];
Rôle of, [7].
Fancy, [346];
in animals, [97];
Source of, [260].
Fear, [34].
Fenelon, [303].
Féré, [325], [340].
Fiduciary money, [286].
Fixed ideas, [88], [89].
Flechsig, [67], [68], [100], [103].
Flournoy, [38], [344].
Forel, [96].
Fouillée, [193].
Fourier, [304].
French, not strong in imagination, [193];
Revolution, [151].
Fresnel, [145].
Fromentin, [17].
Froschammer, [75], [346].
Fuegians, [285].
Gauss, [69], [183].
Gautier, Théophile, [55], [189], [190].
Gavarni, [187].
Generic image, [18].
Genius, and brain structure, [68];
depends on subliminal imagination, [57];
exceptional, [149];
No common measure of, [143].
Geniuses, of judgment, [142];
of mastery over men, and matter, [142].
Gilman, [219] [n.]
Gnostics, [234].
Goethe, [29], [149], [150], [216].
Gold, Curative powers of, [261].
Goncourt, [74].
Goya, [39], [206].
Greece, [282].
Greek republics, [151].
Grétry, [73].
Grillparzer, [85], [336].
Groos, [35], [47], [99], [227].
Guericke, Otto de, [276].
Habits, [22].
Hamilton, [19], [58], [60].
Handel, [145].
Hanseatic League, [287].
Harrington, [303].
Hartmann, [254], [346].
Haüy, [247].
Haydn, [145].
Hegel, [254], [346].
Heine, [306].
Hellenic imagination, anthropomorphic, [202].
Helmholtz, [20], [87], [142].
Henry IV, [139].
Hephæstos, [269].
Hercules, [137].
Hero, [270].
Herodotus, [260].
Hesiod, [130].
Hindoo imagination, symbolic, [202].
Hindoos, [128].
Hodgson, [35].
Höffding, [41].
Hoffman, [39], [206].
Homo duplex, [43].
Homonomy, [120].
Howe, [60] [n.]
Huber, [96].
Hugo, Victor, [188], [189], [216], [229];
Animism in, [189].
Human force, beginning of invention, [273].
Hume, [111].
Huyghens, [270].
Hyperæmia, [70].
Hyperesthesia, Temporary, [74].
Hypermnesia, [54].
Hypothesis, [251];
Progressive, [244].
Icarus, [269].
Idea and emotion, Equivalence of, [80].
Ideal modified in practice, [306].
Idealistic conceptions, [300].
Idealization, Process of, [38].
Illusion, [107];
and legend, [137];
Conscious, of mystic, [228].
Illusions, valuable to scientist, [251].
Image, Modification of, [18], [291].
Images, [80];
abbreviations of reality, [232];
Categories of, [16];
Concrete, [222];
provoked, [188];
sketched type, [81];
Symbolic, [222];
Visual, provoked by music, [217].
Imagination, and abulia, [11];
and foresight, [284];
anthropocentric, [10];
basis of the cosmic process, [75];
Commercial, [281];
complete in animals, [95];
condensed in common objects, [276];
Conditions of, [44];
Development of, [167] ff.;
Diffluent, [196] ff.;
Esthetic, [264];
fixed form, [318];
in animals, [93];
in experimentation, [248];
in primitive man, [118];
Mechanical and technical, [257];
Motives of different sorts of, [251];
Musical, [212] ff., [350];
Mystic, [221] ff.;
Mystical, different from religious, [231];
not opposed to the useful, [263];
Numerical, [207] ff.;
Periods of development of, [144];
Plastic, [184] ff.;
Poetical, [267];
Practical, [256] ff.;
present in all activities, [viii];
Quality of, same in many lives, [265];
Scientific, [236] ff.;
sketched form, [316];
substitute for reason, [29];
Varieties of, [180].
Imaginative type, [320].
Imitation, through pleasure, [98].
Imitative music, [214].
Impersonality, [52], [86].
Incomplete images, [18].
Incubation, Periods of, [278].
Individual variations, [179].
Individuality of genius, [149].
Inductive reasoning, [132].
Infantile insanity, [101].
Inhibition by representation, [6].
Initial moment of discovery, [276].
Inspiration, [50], [85];
and intoxication, [55];
Characteristic of, [57];
characterized by suddenness and impersonality, [51];
resembles somnambulism, [56];
Subjective feeling of, untrustworthy, [59].
Instinct, [75];
answer to specific needs, [42];
Creative, [313];

Resemblance of invention to, [48].
Intellectual factor, [15].
Intuition, [282], [285].
Introspectors, [321].
Intentional combination of images, [95].
Interest, a factor in creation, [82].
Interesting, defined, [36].
Invention arises to satisfy a need, [271];
Higher forms of, [140] ff.;
in morals, [300];
in successive parts, [296];
of monopolies, [282];
Pain of, [51];
Spontaneity of, [51];
subjected to tradition, [269].
Inventions, Amplifiers of, [270];
largely anonymous, [275];
Mechanical, neglected by psychologists, [263];
Stratification of, [272].
Inventors deified, [269];
Oddities of, [72].
James, William, [21], [25], [37], [83], [112].
Janet, [340].
Jealousy, stimulates imagination, [34].
Jordæns, [145].
Joy, [34].
Kant, [248].
Kepler, [246], [247].
Klopstock, [215].
Kühn, [129].
Lagrange, [71].
Lamennais, [73].
Lang, [128], [261].
Language, Origin of, [120].
Laplace, [250].
Larvated epilepsy, [141].
Lavoisier, [246].
Law, [294].
Lazarus, [47].
Leibniz, [73], [74], [146], [253], [296] [n.]
Lélut, [141].
Leurechon, [277].
Liebig, [244].
Linnæus, [183].
Literal mysticism, [226].
Localization, [65].
Loch Lomond, [58].
Locke, [309].
Lombroso, [141], [142].
Louis XIV, [150].
Love, [34];
and hate, [134].
Love-plays, [99].
Machiavelli, [73].
Machines, counterfeits of human beings, [279].
Man and animals, Specific quality of, [273].
Manu, [300].
Mastery, Spirit of, [114].
Materials of imagination, [299].
Maury, A., [6] [n.]
Mechanic and poet, [279].
Mechanical aptitude, [145].
Mechanical imagination, Ideal of, [268].
Mediate association, [59].
Memory, Predominant tendencies in, [61];
untrustworthy, [17].
Men, Great, as makers of history, [150].
Mendelssohn, [145], [213] [n.], [215], [216].
Mental chemistry, [82].
Merchant sailors, [282].
Metamorphosis, [28];
of deities, [129];
Regressive, [171].
Metaphysical speculation, [251];
thought, Stages of, [252].
Metaphysics, [252] ff.
Methods of invention, [243].
Meynert, [100].
Michaelangelo, [145], [148], [149].
Michelet, [186], [306].
Middle Ages, predominantly imaginative, [174].
Military invention, [295];
Conditions of, [297].
Mill, John Stuart, [82], [284].
Milton, [73].
Mimicry, [98].
Mind, Varieties of, [320].
Mission, Consciousness of, [148].
Misunderstanding of the new, [151].
Mobility of inventors, [258].
Monadology, [253].
Money, Invention of, [286];
sought as an end, [289].
Monge, [237].
Moses, [300].
More, [303], [309].
Morgan, Lloyd, [99].
Mormons, [307].
Monoideism, [87].
Montgolfier, [277].
Moral geniuses, [301].
Moravian brotherhood, [307].
Mosso, [71], [340].
Motor elements in all representation, [4];
elements, Rôle of, [7];
manifestation basis of creation, [9].
Movements, Importance of, in imagination, [3].
Mozart, [73], [145].
Müller, Max, [120], [129], [130].
Mummy powder, [261].
Münsterberg, [60].
Muses, [50].
Music an emotional language, [220];
Precocity in, [144].
Musical imagination, [212], [350].
Musset, Alfred de, [335].
Myers, [342].
Mystic imagination, [221] ff., [335].
Mystics, Abuse of allegory, by, [225];
Belief of, [227];
Metaphorical style of, [224].
Mysticism by suggestion, [229].
Myth, defined, [123];
Depersonification of, [133];
in Plato, [134];
in science, [134];
Subjective and objective factors in, [122].
Myths, Significance of, [119];
Variations in, [127].
Myth-making activity, [viii], [331].
Napoleon, [10], [66], [71], [142];
his war practice, [298].
Natural, and human phenomena, [299];
law, Uniformity of, opposed to dissociation, [21];
motors, Use of, [275].
Naville, [245].
Need of knowing, [314].
Neglect of details in sensation, [20].
Nerval, Gérard de, [229], [324].
Nervous overflow, [71].
New Larnak, [309].
Newbold, [340].
Newcomen, [270].
Newton, [58], [87], [146].
Nietzsche, [150].
Nomina Numina, [120], [262].
Nordau, [142].
Numerical imagination, [207] ff.;
mysticism, [226];
series unlimited, [207].
Objective study of inventors, [71].
Oddities of inventors, [72].
Oelzelt-Newin, [33], [95].
Old age, Effect of, on imagination, [77].
Organic conditions, [65].
Orientation conditioned by individual organization, [48];
Personal, [270].
Owen, Robert, [309].
Paradox of belief, [242].
Paralysis by ideas, [6].
Pascal, [146], [244].
Pasteur, [142], [143], [251].
Pathological view of genius, [141].
Pathology and physiology, [74].
Perception, [15];
and conception, [184];
and imagination, [106].
Perez, B., [115].
Persistence of ideas due to feeling, [79].
Personification, [186];
characteristic of aborigines and children, [27];
source of myth, [28].
Phalanges, Organization of society into, [305].
Philippe, J., [17] [n.]
Philosophy, a transformation of mystic ideas, [233].
Phlogiston, [248].
Physiological states, [70].
Physiology and pathology, [74].
Plastic art and mythology, [191];
imagination, [184] f.
Plato, [134], [303], [309].
Platonic ideas, [81], [253].
Play, [47], [97];
Uses of, for man, [114].
Plotinus, [234].
Poe, [39], [206], [324].
Poet, a workman, [190].
Poetical imagination, general characters, [267];
Inspiration in, [268];
special characters, [270].
Poetical invention, Stages of, [266].
Polyideism, [87].
Polynomy, [120].
Poncelet, [143].
Positive minds, [318].
Powers of nature, Exploitation of [271].
Practical imagination, Ubiquity of, [254].
Practice, essential in motor creation, [186].
Precocity, [144];
in poetry, [145];
of mathematicians, [147].
Pre-Raphaelites, [204].
Preyer, [117].
Primitive man, [45];
and myth, [118] ff.
Principle of unity, [250].
Progressive stages of imagination, [84].
Prometheus, [269].
Provoked revival, [94].
Pseudo-science, [240].
Psychic atoms, [19];
paralysis, [6].
Psychological regressions, [248].
Puberty, Influence of, on imagination, [76].
Pythagoras, [226], [246].
Pythagoreans, [134].
Qualities, Attribution of, to objects, [124].
Raphael, [145].
Rational Metaphysics, [234].
Reason, Objectivity of, [10].
Reciprocal working of scientific and practical discoveries, [249].
Recuperative theory of play, [97].
Redintegration, Law of, [19];
Total, [36].
Regis, [54].
Religion, Universality of, [128].
Renaissance, [151], [175].
Reni, Guido, [73].
Repetition versus creation, [5], [23].
Representation and belief inseparable, [110].
Representations, Interchange of, [323];
Number of, [322].
Revery, [38], [198], [316].
Reymond, Du Bois, [52].
Reynolds, [6], [325].
Roland, [138].
Roman Republic, [151].
Romans, [125].
Romanes, [94], [95], [96].
Romantic invention, [115].
Röntgen, [142].
Rossini, [73].
Rousseau, [309].
Rubens, [145].
Rüdinger, [69].
Saint-Simonism, [309].
Sand, George, [52], [215].
Satanic literature, [206].
Schelling, [253].
Schematic images, [18], [291].
Schiller, [47], [72], [73], [145].
Schopenhauer, [37], [149], [150], [253], [346].
Schubert, [145].
Schumann, [215].
Science, [45];
Conjecture beginning of, [245];
prescribes conditions and limits to imagination, [236];
Three movements in growth of, [239].
Scientific imagination, [236] ff.
Scripture, [60].
Self-feeling, [35].
Semi-science, [240].
Seneca, [141].
Sensation changed in memory, [17].
Sensorial insanity, [101].
Sexual instinct, [314].
Shakers, [307].
Shakespeare, [143], [186].
Shelly, [56].
Social aims in finance, [294];
invention, limited by the past, [308];
wants, [314].
Socialism, Utopian and scientific, [310].
Societies for special ends, [307].
Sorrow, [34].
Special modes of scientific imagining, [237].
Specific, not general imagination, [179].
Spencer, [47], [131], [150].
Spinoza, [110], [143], [254].
Spirits, Belief in, [51].
Spontaneity, [296].
Spontaneous revival, [94], [315].
Spontaneous variations, [140].
Stages of passage from percept to concept, [292].
Stallo, [134].
State credit, Law's system of, [294].
Stewart, Dugald, [111].
Stigmata, etc., unprecedented in individual's experience, [7].
Stigmatized individuals, [6].
Subjective factors, [20].
Subliminal imagination, [57].
Sully, [21].
Summa, [254].
Summary, [330].
Superstition and religion, [259].
Symbolism of Hindoos, [202].
Taine, [18], [111], [117], [129], [150], [200].
Teleological character of will and imagination, [10].
Thales, [134].
Titchener, [83].
Tolstoi, [151].
Tools, [274].
Tours, Moreau de, [55], [78], [141].
Triptolemus, [269].
Tropisms, [75].
Tycho-Brahé, [73], [246], [270].
Tylor, [99], [123], [125], [131], [139].
Tyndall, [238].
Tyre, [282].
Unconscious, Nature of the, [339];
physiological theory, [340], [341].
Unconscious cerebration, [53];
factor, [50] ff.;
factor, not a distinct element in invention, [64].
Units of exchange, [286].
Unity, Principle of, [79].
Universale post rem, [84].
Utopias, based on author's milieu, [303].
Utopian imagination, [299].
Utopians, indifferent to realization, [309].
Van Dyck, [145].
Vaucanson, [48].
Vedic epoch, [129].
Vesication, [5], [7].
Vicavakarma, [269].
Vico, [174].
Vignoli, [128].
Vinci, Leonardo da, [58], [149].
Vis a fronte and a tergo, [11].
Vocation, Change of, [172];
Choice of, [144].
Voltaire, [150].
Voluntary activity analogous to creative imagination, [9].
Von Baer, [210].
Von Hartmann, [224].
Wagner, [145].
Wahle, [62].
Wallace, [96], [99].
Wallaschek, [99].
Watch, Evolution of the, [270].
Watt, James, [66], [244],

[270].
Wealth, desired from artistic motives, [290].
Weber, E. F., [5], [145], [216].
Weismann, [148].
Wernicke, [100].
Wiertz, [39], [206].
Will, The broad meaning of, [112];
a coordinating function, [9];
Effect of, on physiological functioning, [5].
Words, Rôle of, [96].
Wundt, [24], [40], [182].
Zeller, [226].
Ziehen, [61], [62].
Zoroaster, [300].