Imagination after neurological losses of movement and sensation

the experience of spinal cord injury

Jonathan Cole

pp. 183-195

in: Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 4 (2), 2005.

Abstract

To what extent is imagination dependent on embodied experience? In attempting to answer such questions I consider the experiences of those who have to come to terms with altered neurological function, namely those with spinal cord injury at the neck. These people have each lost all sensation and movement below the neck. How might these new ways of living affect their imagination?