Suppression of the Imagination

July 6th, 2007 Fred McVittie

Despite the fact that much of the discourse of scientific rationalism is inherently metaphorical, there is still a sense that a vast gulf exists between this discourse and that of myth, fantasy, dream, art, etc. As Ira Chernus (1985) points out in Imagining the Unimaginable this perceived difference is not simply due to an ontological distinction in the kind of knowledge represented in the discourse, but is a difference which is actively constructed and maintained to serve the interests of particular individuals and organisations. Chernus uses the the example of Nuclear war and how this possible event is described. He indicates that it is not the unimaginability of such an event that is the problem, but rather how the kind of imaginative engagement we might have with it is constrained to the apparent ‘objectivity’ of scientific and military strategic discourse. Other forms of engagement: fantasy, narrative, mythic etc. are effectively suppressed and claimed to be invalid, despite the fact that the apparently objective allowed discourses are equally grounded in imaginative metaphor.

Chernus, Ira. (1985). “Imagining the ‘Unimaginable’.” Bulletin of Peace Proposals, no 1, pp. 79-85.

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