The ubiquitous presence of imaginative work points at its importance
among the higher mental functions. This collective volume discusses both
the social relevance of imagination, that cannot be reduced to an
inter-individual feature, and the cultural-historical conditions of
imagining. The authors develop different theoretical and empirical works
in which imagining, planning, anticipating, remembering and acting are
put in relation with crucial moments of human existence, as early as
birth and even after death. The proposal of this volume emerged during a
"kitchen seminar" session at the III International Seminar of Cultural
Psychology in Salvador da Bahia (Brazil, 2017). The debate revolved
around the imaginative capability of human beings and the possibilities
to investigate this phenomenon in a new key. The awareness that an
innovative theoretical and empirical contribution was needed to the
understanding of imaginative phenomena in everyday life led to the
proposal of the book From Dream to Action: Imagination and (Im)Possible
Futures. The book aims to talk to different audiences: psychologists,
sociologists, artists, teachers and healthcare professionals, addressing
a variety of life experiences - such as imagining alternative futures
when facing a terminal illness, an adoption, a transplant waiting list,
or the choice to give up your musical instrument - mobilize multiple
dimensions of human psyche, from the basic emotions to the more
sophisticated higher mental functions. The constant effort is to
understand the psychological and sociocultural dynamics of each event,
and to contribute to the understanding of human imagining in the area of
semiotic-cultural psychology, dialoguing with contributions from all the
human and social sciences.
