Spinoza's argument for a bodily imagination

Abstract

Imagination is characterized by Spinoza as the first kind of knowledge, and, as such, imagination is a mode of thought. However, in a further mapping of the concept in the Ethics, we see that it is an activity that involves both the mind and the extended body. The standard and idealist interpretation of imagination does not account for its corporeal or extended dimension, leaving aside an important aspect of the activity. Based on the thesis of causal independency of attributes, I will argue against the traditional interpretation and demonstrate that there is an imagination of the body in Spinoza.