Images, Propositions, and Knowledge

Abstract

The concept of imagery has been linked historically to both memory and thought. The memory side apparently originated in Western culture as a mnemonic technique that was invented by Simonides about 2500 years ago. The method was promoted by orators as a way of memorizing speeches, by educators who advocated the technique as a learning device during the middle ages, and by philosophers such as Bruno who wanted to unify all knowledge within memory through the organization of images. Imagery as a theory of thought also goes back to antiquity. Aristotle wrote that it was impossible to think without mental pictures, and used the images of mnemonics to illustrate his statements about imagination and thought. Later, the British empiricists equated images with ideas in their theory of association. Images were subsequently viewed as basic units of consciousness in the introspective psychologies of Wundt and Titchener. Finally, today, both functions of imagery are given a prominent place in some theories of memory and cognition, but with important changes in the assumptions concerning the nature of the concept. I will discuss those differences, presently.