The Role of Value in Creative Imagining
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12697/spe.2026.19.1.04Keywords:
imagination, creativity, value-guided imagining, epistemic constraintsAbstract
In discussions of imagination’s role in creativity, scholars have drawn two relevant distinctions. First, imagination has traditionally been described as free or unconstrained in creative contexts, while it is considered as largely constrained in epistemic contexts. Second, we can distinguish passive from active creativity: in passive creativity, an idea emerges spontaneously and is displayed in the imagination; in active creativity, imagination is employed deliberately to generate new ideas. This paper argues that there are two different modes of active creativity. The first involves generating ideas in an unguided way; the second involves value-guided imagination – a process in which imagining is shaped by attention to what we value. Adding this further distinction helps clarify the role value can take in creative processes and sheds light on the distinction between creative and epistemic uses of imagination.
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