Page:Ferrier's Works Volume 3 "Philosophical Remains" (1883 ed.).djvu/525



1. entering on the consideration of the representative faculty, or what is usually termed imagination, I shall in to-day's lecture discuss a somewhat singular opinion advanced by Mr Stewart regarding this faculty, and which such of you as are acquainted with his works must be familiar with, and may have been puzzled by. I allude to his opinion that "the exercise of the Imagination (I use his own words) is always accompanied with a belief that the objects of the imagination exist." I propose to consider how far this doctrine is consistent with truth, and to what extent and upon what grounds it may be rationally vindicated. I shall first refer to the passage in which Mr Stewart propounds his opinion. He commences by stating the counter-opinion of Dr Reid, who holds that "imagination is attended with no belief in the existence of its object" ('Elements,' i. 140-43.) Mr Stewart is at some pains to illustrate his opinion