The Importance Of Imaginary Places

I’d like to begin my essay from one quotation that helped me to understand the main direction of this work discussion. This quotation explains the main content of the notion imaginary places and their meaning for people. Let’s look at it attentively and analyze how the World Trade Center site in New York City is now an “imaginary place.” Leonard & Mcclure stated that “Such sites are, of course, actual places. We can go there today, stand, look, and know we are in the place. Yet, at the same time, these actual places are mythic because they embody meanings far beyond the scope of the events that happened and even beyond the limits of the physical locations themselves. In that sense, they are imaginary places.” (Leonard & Mcclure, 2003)

I want to mention in this paragraph that such “imaginary places” are very important for 21st century Americans. In our consciousness the notion “imaginary place” can be interpret as a place that exists only in imagination, it can be imagination of one person or it can be imagination of group of people, who are interested in one problem or question; also imaginary place is a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings. In our case it is one taken website that reflects events that had a place in American society several years ago. The date of awful catastrophe will never be forgotten by people who lost there their relatives and I think that the whole country will never forget that tragedy.

Saying about the World Trade Center (WTC) we can say that it was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City. In 2001 in the September 11 the World Trade Center’s seven buildings were destroyed by terrorist attacks. The site is at present being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the terrorist attacks. Now this website considered an “imaginary place” that exists as a part of memory for people who know this place and for people who will never see beloved people. It will be very honest answer to say that people should remember their history and visiting imaginary places all people receive such possibility. Young people need to know how the place that they can see every day looked like several years ago and they should know its history. Old people can visit this place in their imagination and remember some events from their past life.

Imaginary places are important part of today’s life, because everyday we are looking for something new and sometimes even forget about historical places and people who were connected with these places. It is a good idea to create imaginary places and it is also a good idea of creation of imaginary communities. I’m not promoting against real places and real communities, but in my opinion people should have a chance to talk about their memories with people with the same interest and our past is the wonderful base for our future success and happiness.

I’d like to talk about imaginary communities in this paragraph as a component connected with the notion “imaginary places”. Famous American researcher Benedict Anderson named nations the «imaginary associations». «Imaginary» – as their representatives, not knowing the most compatriots, even never meeting them; however feel the involvement to them. By other words, «imaginary associations» exist in imagination of their members. Like imaginary places we can’t visit in real life and touch to its things and ground where they based. Imagination is a really interesting notion, because it allows us to create something new and important, or unimportant, but pleasant… it depends from our necessities and wishes. Role of imagination in the process of creative cognition it is possible to define as one of methods of the use of present for a man knowledge. The functions of imagination are probed in-process on row procedures of scientific cognition: hypothesis, evident design, and mental experiment. The purpose of imagination is ability to create new appearances. It gives birth from necessities to correlate accessible to the man with that it is not given to him straight. It is understandable that for research of cognitive role of imagination it is necessary to find out its features. Complication of exposure of specific of imagination is conditioned that it closely interlaces with all types of cognition. This circumstance is reason of origin of tendency to the denial of existence of imagination as the special form of reflection. To decide this problem, it is necessary to expose actual nature of imagination. From all above stated determinations evidently, that the substantial sign of imagination is consider ability of subject to create new appearances. But it is not enough, because it is impossible then to conduct distinctions between imagination and thought. Creation of new knowledge and concepts in the field of logical thought can take place and without participation of imagination. Thus, we should take into account circumstance that imagination is creation of new appearances, and transformation of past experience, and what transformation is accomplished at organic unity perceptible and rational.

I think that imagination as a main aspect of imaginary places creation should be discussed with more details. We will consider specific forms of activity that is revealed in which perceptible reflection of reality, and also that role which execute feeling in the processes of forming of appearances. Very often feelings examined straight as valuable appearance of reality. Feelings – primary appearances of certain properties of reality – straight or indirectly join in forming of all (including generalized) mental appearances. Imagination, creating evident appearances, absorbs in itself feelings. But at it imagination leans against their semantic moment. Therefore, imagination physiological does not depend on activity of sense-organs. Imagination – is product of transformation foremost of functional descriptions reflections. Perception is appearance of object on the whole, in it already very full semantic descriptions of subjectivity open up.

During perception a subject is able to construct whole complexes directly not these parameters of object. The elements of imagination find out itself in a perceptible reflection only then, when along with ability functionally to “finish” building appearances these objects ability of man to expose is clearly revealed on your own functional meaningfulness of the perceived objects and to do this meaningfulness by the article of the special consideration and special procedures. Circumstance that in perception of persons capable from data separate to “finish” building elements the failings sides of object, “see” unit at to the real availability only its parts, testifies to development of subjective and active descriptions of perceptible appearances. Complexity such appearances, included in them experience individual and collective there is a display of nascent imagination activity. Essence of imagination consists in that appearances of imagination are consciously produced by a man.

Thus, by a basic line which distinguishes imagination from different forms of activity in a perceptible reflection, there is original realized by the subject of imagination of human (social, cultural and other) grounds of this activity. The outer world comes forward the financial base of process of imagination in everything riches of its relations, from which the new impressions are “dipped” out and new images are created. Imagination can be examined and as a process (form) and as a result of (table of contents) reflection of objective to reality. It executes functions: heuristic, anticipatory, practical, cognitive, aesthetic and others. Imagination is capable to transform the whole world without an exception. Imagination – it one of capabilities man to product new images. By the feature of imagination as facilities transfer of knowledge from one area there is an original alloy on other perceptible and rational.

Analyzing information about imagination as a form of our mind work we should emphasize that imagination is the specific reflection of reality and serves by the mean of its cognition. Activity of imagination necessarily flows in evident plan. It necessarily destroys a subject outside available situations, forms appearances, not having a direct original in to reality. Thus, based on our research data we can conclude that imaginary places allow people to be involved in imaginary activity and it also allows Americans to be involved in the history of their country, because it is necessary for all people remember what had happened in their country and I believe that such imaginary place also can help to avoid some catastrophes in future.