Ðhenomenon of Fantasy as a Form of Human Consciousness

Volkova Vera Doctor of Philosophy Professor, Department of Methodology, History and Philosophy of Science, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University 603087, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, ul. Kazanskoe Highway, 12 veravolkova@mail.ru

Kamin Andrey ORCID: 0000-0003-0632-5466 Graduate student, Department of Methodology, History and Philosophy of Science, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University 603000, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Minina str., 24 Kaminaa@mgppu.ru

Introduction

The current situation of the information technology age leads to a change in human existence, which affects his entire being and, in particular, the ability to think logically and consistently. A person is increasingly delving into an information environment that excludes or transforms any logic. Information has a generalizing and, at the same time, negative impact on human consciousness, as it can be doubtful. A more reliable tool of thought is conceptualization, which translates information into an object or form of consciousness.

Consciousness as a category of traditional philosophy is changing in its understanding along with the change in human nature. In the history of philosophy, assumptions have been made that consciousness cannot be scientifically substantiated (T. Huxley) or that it is devoid of essence (V. Wundt et al.). In modern epistemology, consciousness is defined as "the state of an individual's mental life" ^{[11, p. 588]}, and the form of consciousness implies that mental life can be diverse in existence, relations with the world and methods of fixing these relations, i.e. it is quite amenable to conceptualization. A person is able to perceive the world and realize what is happening by other means than logic and feeling.  These intellectual means come in the wake of the movement of the imagination.

 One of the forms of existence of consciousness is fantasy. The methods of studying fantasy allow us to attribute it to a phenomenon, the study of which can go in two ways: the conceptualization of fantasy and the non-classical way of describing it as the formation of the fantasy reality of consciousness. In the second case, fantasy reality becomes a product of the era of conceptualization.

The concept of fantasy in philosophy and the humanities

The study of fantasy meets the demands of the modern era for the conceptualization of phenomena, the convergence of cognitive sciences and phenomenology, the teachings of life and the teachings of consciousness. The term concept (Latin conceptum) in translation means "uterine fetus", "embryo". From this meaning it can be understood that fantasy is conceptually involved in the production of images, new semantic structures in the process of productive imagination.

 The fantasy created by human thinking is an independent "possible world", combines the meanings of the state of consciousness, its structure, considered in the categories of the process of imagination. For its completeness as a phenomenon, a logical form is necessary. But it can be perceived outside the concepts of logic as the ability to create new meanings and images of meanings, texts and situations of the world of possibilities. At its beginning, "the subject will not distinguish between things and events of the real and virtual world: the world is given to him directly in his sensations, and they turn out to be indistinguishable at this level" ^[14]. This understanding of human fantasy, connected with the creation of a world indistinguishable from reality, which can be inhabited, changed, adjusted to any ideas and framework, is a unique way of influencing and controlling human consciousness.

From the standpoint of evolutionary epistemology, fantasy is biologically rooted in physicality and, through imagination, is the generic ability of a living being to surround himself with signs and meanings, to create the world around him actively and interactively in accordance with the peculiarities of his bodily organization [9 p. 7]

The phenomenology of fantasy as a form of consciousness assumes that a person brings himself into a state of direct (conscious or unconscious) connection with being. It is impossible to logically express this connection. Visualizations and narratives come to the rescue as dynamic constructions of perceptual experience.

 Phenomenology shows the dependence of a person on the states of his consciousness, the production of images, the subjective living of the world of meanings.  A person perceives the state of his consciousness as an event, the image of which can be:

1) detached from everyday life; 2) transferred to a burst of creativity;

3) the result of which is another world, another role, another destiny.

The study of fantasy is connected with consciousness and its concepts that determine the position of a person in the modern world after the break of previous traditions and the formation of a new reality, when any event in his life is perceived as an indefinite and threatening image.

The correlation of ontology and epistemology in scientific knowledge was manifested in the doctrine of I. Kant's fantasy. Being and the knowledge of being are linked together in the fact that a person in imagination relies on his ability to determine sensuality a priori, synthesize contemplations, i.e. to gather sensitivity and visualization into unity, translate their syntheses into rational forms and narratives. Possession of a transcendental synthesis of the ability of imagination makes fantasy a "fundamental anthropological phenomenon" ^{[17, p. 29]}.

Fantasy is the "key" to a priori understanding of one's inner world. I. Kant represents imagination as a cognitive ability ^{[15, p. 15]}, which has its own specification and range of expressions. Fantasy in modern research is identical to imagination, since it is a structure that forms and reveals itself in the process of a hypothetical theory key.

Imagination is not a purely psychological phenomenon. I. Kant refers reproductive imagination to the psychology of the subject. The synthesis of reproductive imagination obeys the laws of association and is not a deep level of self-knowledge. Self-knowledge manifests itself in the process of self-organization of the inner world of a person, which is facilitated by productive imagination. According to I. Kant, it appears in a transcendental form ^[7] and refers to the activity of consciousness.

The transcendental form captures the variety of sensory contemplations in a generalized representation. This ability is an independent cognitive ability that combines sensuality and reason. The understanding produces an intellectual synthesis of ideas that does not need the activity of imagination, and transcendental synthesis is a "figurative synthesis" based precisely on the transcendental ability of imagination. Imagination is able to influence sensuality a priori, to excite its internal state with visibility and narratives. A person can feel and passively contemplate phenomena, i.e. perform actions without, it would seem, control from the side of consciousness.

But this only apparent conscious state is also a form of consciousness. It is generated by the "transcendental scheme", according to I. Kant, and can reproduce different figures of perception, which turn out to be akin, on the one hand, to categories, and on the other hand, to feelings. N. M. Smirnova believes that "the cognitive ambivalence of the transcendental scheme allows it to mediate the process of bringing phenomena under the categories of reason" ^{[16, p. 18]}, i.e. phenomena become conscious in this way. At the same time, the transcendental scheme is a condition of sensuality in the unity of the diversity of inner feelings, which are "figures", "plots", "actors".

Fantasy images can generate new information. Quantum theory in physics redefines the traditional relations of consciousness and being, considering fantasy as a generator of new information that rebuilds a person's attitude to his being. The cognition of quantum objects does not have the "objectness" accepted in traditional physics and, as knowledge, cannot manifest itself without imagination.

In the humanities, fantasy is close to the concept of imagination ^[3]. It is connected with the ideas of constructing the inner world by means of imagination, language and "inner vision" of the processes of living the image in interaction with other people or under the influence of socio-cultural circumstances.

Fantasy and scientific knowledge: how effective is the classical discourse of its research?

The classical discourse of research suggests that observations (contemplations) can fail the observer. Overcoming the misconceptions of observation is possible by establishing reliable facts and accumulating logically sound knowledge.  Fantasy does not contain reliable facts, so the theme of fantasy in classical philosophy was on the "periphery" of scientific knowledge.

The modern view of fantasy presupposes the existence of a special sphere of confrontation between human subjectivity and the world of objects.

Consciousness is a sphere of ideas that are obvious, but not observable in the outside world, which are associated with fantasy as a condition of primary perception ^[20]. This primary perception takes on various interpretations in the history of philosophy and is one of the first known forms of consciousness.  A person always strives for knowledge. It is difficult for him to find satisfaction in what he has learned. Fantasy stimulates perception, preserving vital interest in assumptions and hypotheses that have an initially figurative representation.     

 Ancient philosophy reveals a peculiar aspect of perception in the Epicurean concept of "imaginative cast of thought" ^[6]. This concept includes the ability of a person to track and grasp some reliable content, which Plato called an "idea". The idea is one of the first prototypes of the primary perception of the world with the help of fantasy. At the same time, the fate of the concept of "idea" has its source in classical cognition.

An idea is an intermediary between the world comprehended with the help of the mind and the world of material things — reality. Ideas are immaterial, but they are able to give knowledge about the material world by pointing to themselves. Ideas are comprehended by the mind and therefore they are comparable to mental images. They are not frozen casts of things, but carry out their structuring in perception, i.e. they are dynamic constructions or embryos of the mind. In this sense, an idea can be structured as a model. It is no longer an abstraction, but specifically transfers its content into a developing image. Fantasy reveals the space of meanings and meaning of an idea, as well as the possibilities of its development into practice.  The power of fantasy lies in the ability to penetrate into such subjects where knowledge cannot manifest itself in any other forms.

  Ideas cannot be defined as a material object. The idea appears and disappears, preserving in itself, according to Plato, the source of knowledge and the meaning of the ideal thing, as well as its beginning. Translated from the Greek, means evidence, seeing with "mental" eyes. The appearance and disappearance of an idea speaks of it as an object of an informational nature and as a prototype for understanding reality that is not tied to a material carrier. This is the first form of fantasy consciousness known in the history of philosophy. Consciousness "breaks away" from reality, forming meanings and meanings in the image, and fantasy through the idea creates a form as an instrument of consciousness. 

 The cognition of ideas is embedded in the mind, and the material cognition of things is carried out in perception, which becomes "primary", since it is lived and experienced by the "soul", i.e. in earthly cognition ^{[13, p.424.]}. There is a meaning hidden in ideas, which can be discovered with the help of deep reflection on the creation of constructions of an imaginary world (fantasy), gradually being rebuilt into scientific knowledge. As a construction, the idea has stability, which provides conceptuality to the idea. It affects the consciousness of other people by mobility and transitions into other images and other imaginary constructions of thought.    

Ideas are present as immaterial constructions in the material world, forming its ontological basis. At the same time, they help to realize, communicate with other people, are used as communication tools, structure different models of knowledge, and rebuild the activity of consciousness.

With regard to cognition, Plato distinguishes two forms of knowledge: true opinions ( ) and knowledge ().  Cognition begins with a dialogue between the idea of an object and the soul of a person. But the idea is not contained in the soul. It is imprinted in mental images, bringing consciousness and reality, thinking and being closer together. This rapprochement is impossible without fantasy accompanying the "figurative synthesis" as a process of embedding the products of imagination into ideas. Ideas can coincide with reality, or they can construct an imaginary world of connections and relationships with it.  At the same time, there can be no exact coincidence of the idea and reality, since the idea undergoes a virtual "cleansing" from layers of prejudice, fictitiousness. The idea is free of opinions.

Some concepts of science stop at fragments of reality. The acceptance of the doctrine of the wholeness of reality, which connects all fragments of reality with a single link, allows us to talk about the modern strategy of transdisciplinarity ^[8]. It is assumed that scientists from different fields of knowledge unite to solve practical problems, relying on a holistic vision. Transdisciplinary strategy seeks to understand the dynamics of a process at several levels of reality at the same time, therefore "transcends the boundaries of specific disciplines and creates a universal picture of the process" [8 p.194] Holistic vision involves the inclusion of fantasy so that the image of the situation is captured as a guiding principle for its study in the connection of fragments and pieces of reality.  Transdisciplinarity is of particular importance for the relationship between philosophy and psychology. Philosophy sets the parameters of a person's creativity based on generalized ideas about the world of a creative person who combines in the experience of consciousness the conscious and unconscious states of his ontogenesis and the spiritual experience of what is unconsciously included in the sphere of his self-consciousness as a legacy of previous generations. Considering this confusion in each person raises psychology to a philosophical level. Especially if psychology rises to generalized representations of the initial principles of theoretical knowledge, such as psyche, which is irreducible neither to feeling nor to thought in their isolation.    

 The source of this vision is latently present in the doctrine of Plato's idea. We can say that this reasoning about an idea is a philosopher's "dream", his fantasy. However, Plato invests in the former mythological thinking of the ancient Greeks the moment of picturesqueness, visual scenarity as unifying and a priori principles of thinking. In a generalized form, this is not only a transformation of myth, but also another type of cognition through interpretation and symbolism as the basis of imaginative cognition. Symbolic interpretations create cognitive schemas of knowledge peculiar only to them. The idea is open to new cognitive schemes emerging in various fields of science, for example, the idea as a thought-image can serve as a metalanguage for correlating the achievements of psychology and philosophy in the teachings of consciousness.  For example, P. Picasso's dictum "I draw the world as I think it" speaks of the indistinguishability of thought and artistic images in the products of imagination.

Fantasy as a product of imagination helps feelings to move into intuition, to accept in perception the fact that there is life outside of concrete and pragmatic content. The mind considers fantasy to be the support of its existence, the source of filling consciousness. Fantasy is a structure of the mind that is universally understood by people in the intention to formulate an idea or implement it.

It is natural for a person to look for a basis in his reasoning. In his fantasies, he needs confirmation of the contents that the transcendental syntheses of the ability to imagine reveal to him. Checking the "imaginary world" requires a non-classical formulation of the question of how fantasy interacts with reality and whether fantasy itself is reality?

Penetration into the sphere of the infinite, getting used to an object, judging a non–existent object as living separately and existing "as if" in fantasy, dependence on an "as if" existing object - all these are facts that do not fit into the classical idea of certainty, unambiguity and measurability of classical knowledge.

Non-classical ideas about fantasy

Consciousness includes the creative moment. Otherwise, scientific discoveries, revolutions in science, which followed, for example, after A. Einstein's formulation of the general theory of relativity, would have been impossible. The term "non-classical representations" means fantasy as a form of consciousness that does not have an unambiguous order and is expressed in the interpretation of heterogeneous constructions of the primary perception of consciousness connected by a single connection. One of the first ideas about fantasy refers to the teachings of Aristotle and the translation of the Greek word as "vision". In this vision, observation is carried out with "mental eyes" and the construction of the obvious by the "mind", i.e., an object that has never been seen in reality.

One of the sources of the non-classical notion of fantasy is the philosophy of Romanticism. The term "fantasy" has become interesting to researchers in the field of art of the Romantic era as a kind of embodiment of the inner nature of a person dissatisfied with the "coldness" and alienation of the mind of the epoch of the XVII – XVIII centuries. The discovery of natural laws by I. Newton showed the omnipotence of reason in substantiating the observed facts and describing them with the help of mathematics. This era was the era of transition from feudal existence to a different existence, designed for individual initiative and entrepreneurial risk, which needed a clear calculation, which, however, was combined with the unknown and uncertainty of the result. D. Hume pointed out that the authenticity of life and knowledge about it should be determined from the standpoint of observable sensory data and pure logic. Fantasy and imagination do not fit into "pure" logic and create knowledge that does not agree with D. Hume's programs and therefore cannot be a sign of a rationally omnipotent mind. Therefore, there is an interest in the inner workings of consciousness, capable of creating "figurative syntheses" against the will and reason. A person discovers in himself the ability to act under the influence of internal efforts and states, which is associated with the appearance of "inspiration". Bringing yourself into such a state is impossible without visualization as a special way of seeing what cannot be seen in the surrounding life.  

Imagination turns out to be the salvation of the human psyche from the fear of the unknown. The departure from reality is associated with the appearance of images of ideas as a means of describing states of consciousness. The works of I. Goethe, F. Schiller, J. Byron call a person to leave reality and move into the world of fantasy, in which you can find a sustainable use of your powers and at the same time not fall into risk. F. Schiller wrote: "On the wings of fantasy, a person leaves the narrow limits of the present time, in which he is placed by exceptional animality, in order to strive forward to an unlimited future, but his heart has not yet ceased to live as an individual and serve the minute, while the infinite rises before his dizzying imagination" ^[19].

By F. According to Schiller, fantasy has "wings", which in B. Lee Whorf's concept of language means placing fantasy in the "noumenal world, the world of hyperspace and higher dimensions", which unites and unifies in a common "kingdom" along with the organization of the language of the foundations of mathematics and music as "its closest relatives" ^{[18, p. 222]}. The language presupposes the presence of a "big world", where the physical is a "surface". But it is in this world that we "are" and "belong" to it. The "wings" on which a person is carried away in his fantasies are part of an approach to reality through an attitude to language and image. The unification of meanings, which B. Lee Wharf calls "templates", forms a "whole" like Gestalten in psychology. Generalized meanings are included in large generalities, developed in special formats of progress.

Nowadays, the world of "higher dimensions" is still inaccessible to science and therefore can be compared with the romantic vision of fantasy. The dreamer speaks the language of images, makes a "figurative throw of thought", strives to be understood by other people, which makes him "ground" his speech. But when forming his individual gestalt, he is forced to invent his own "templates" and control the states of his consciousness to the extent that the structure of his mind as part of the bodily organization allows him.   

Fantasy is a dream of freedom, first of all, from sensuality or "animality", i.e. the romantic fantasy seeks to overcome the stiffness of its body. It is in fantasy that a person is not organic in any way. By F. According to Schiller, fantasy allows you to go beyond the narrow limits of your life, "serving the minute" and find a place for yourself in infinity. In fantasy, the romantic is waiting for the unknown, which he can transform in the most unique way. He can also comprehend in himself something independent of anything "belonging to him as a living being" ^[5].

In romantic conceptions of fantasy, constructions of psychic life are revealed as an independent reality, opposed to multiple other realities in the creative form of consciousness as the embodiment of a priori knowledge.

Fantasy in Plato's teaching acquires the ability to become "the world of imaginative cognition" [4 p. 217], the world of understanding. The idea is enclosed in the image as in a genuine reality. Imaginative cognition directs a person's experience both into the field of studying the archetypes of C. G. Jung, and into the field of experiencing human interaction as a space where an "imaginative cast of thought" creates an unusual, non-equilibrium environment for comprehending oneself and one's problems through another person.

In this context, the non-classical discourse of scientific knowledge implies the allocation of objects of methodological analysis as samples of scientific creativity with a non-equilibrium and heterogeneous view of their interpretation. The ability to become the world of imaginative cognition allows us to consider fantasy as an "inner experience", "inner vision", "imaginative instinct" ^[2]. It expresses the creative ability of consciousness. 

The debatable aspect of fantasy images

The image manifests itself in the special status of its existence, in its unique reality of existence for consciousness and human understanding of it. Its "materiality" is far from the classical definiteness of the object, but it remains real in the understanding of the reality intended only for it.

From a humanitarian point of view, the image creates its own reality. The shadows "carried by objects" in Plato's Cave turn out to be actual projections of the image into the world of objective objectness. Their existence depends on a person's understanding of the uncertainty, complexity and diversity of the manifestations of the objective world. In this sense, C. G. Jung's archetypes can be considered epistemological structures of fantasy, which become real in fantasy as a form of consciousness. They guide a person's experience, manifest themselves in his judgments and limit his behavior to the "figures" of his states of consciousness visible to another person. Such figures can be considered emotions, feelings, actions, narratives that arise in consciousness due to the recognition of archetypes.   

Fantasy is important not only as a mental activity of a person. In the history of philosophy, fantasy has its "double" - an idea, the content of which may include Plato's "eidos", the divine destiny of the Middle Ages or modern "digitalization". Each such turn of ideology leads to a restructuring of the mental organization of a person.

Fantasy opens up in a person's ability to grasp the essences of the materialized world and construct their "figurative syntheses", think about them, reflect on them and experience their survival in them as objects with quasi-objective content.

Modern discussions about the reality of fantasy contrast fantasy as a special form of reality, equal in its properties to reason. A fantasy image fills a person's consciousness with reality ^{[17, p. 32]}. But this reality is not a direct reflection of the materialized world, but a special dimension with its own properties. As a form of consciousness, this dimension allows us to understand fantasy as a phenomenon of the human psyche, revealed by the person himself in meanings, meanings and symbols subject to interpretation, which is identical to the "subjective experience" of events in the outside world, as well as the life of the individual himself ^{[11, p. 885]}. The conceivable and possible world gathers in itself "figurative syntheses" of explicit and implicit content, from which it is built in the human consciousness. Fantasy forms the reality of a real special dimension in a person's mind. It was the fantasy of the creators of quantum mechanics, S. Konyaev believes, first of all, Schrodinger, "allowed us to move from a "tactile" model of describing reality to a probabilistic one – the possibility of a particle appearing at one point or another in the universe" ^{[10, p. 87]}.

Fantasy as a special dimension of reality, taken in this context, can have different interpretations. It can set different ontologies. M. B. Mensky, within the framework of Everett's extended concept, suggests considering objective reality as a quantum world, and reducing consciousness to a wave function. In fantasy, as in a special dimension from the standpoint of physical theory, a "form" is created, which is registered in the form of a "corpuscle" or "wave".  Special states, such as sleep, trance, meditation, allowing the flood of consciousness with a stream of fantastic images "means turning off or weakening the separation of alternatives, i.e. the ability to perceive all alternatives" ^{[12, p. 187]}.

From the perspective of modern physics, enhanced by the image of virtuality, fantasy not only swaps the external and internal, spiritual and bodily. It is a tool for creating a new culture of transformation and regeneration of the relations of the psyche and consciousness. The revival of computer illusions expands the idea of the human body, allowing a person to be present for a long distance from the boundaries of the body visible in the "usual spectral range" with the help of quantum effects ^{[10, p. 89]}.

S. Konyaev confirms that fantasy can be viewed through the prism of different ontologies: splitting of our world, including the observer (Hugh Everett); splitting of each actualization into two or more parallel universes with probabilistic possibilities (Everett-Wheeler, I. A. Akchurin)  "Some philosophers (Alvin Toffler and others) believe that it is virtual computer worlds that can play a key role even in solving such a purely philosophical problem as removing a person's alienation from the products of his work" ^{[1, p. 10]}. Consciousness participates in the choice of the world of its existence and action, i.e. from the form of fantasy that the human consciousness itself prefers to construct. 

Unfortunately, fantasy cannot be subjected to precise calculations. It is an a priori structure of consciousness – its form, whose existence can be verified by existential reflection with unlimited access to the inner world of the subject, given only to him and trusted by others within certain limits of imaginative cognition.

Conclusion

The socio-cultural features of the XXI century form a request for scientific knowledge synthesizing cognitive schemes of different fields for a deeper knowledge of a person enriched with the achievements of epistemology and ontology. Fantasy refers to representations that have a reflexive nature. As a concept, fantasy is based on the primary perception that separates sensuality and reason in consciousness. Fantasy is the source (germ) of a person's experience of his being, embodied conceptually in the process of imagination. It appears as a special spatial form of consciousness in which a person defines his feelings a priori by means of imagination, experiences their combinations, gathers sensitivity and visual images into unity, reflexively translates them into something opposite – the rational and reasonable justifications of his fantasy experience.

Thus, fantasy becomes quite a "realistic" design project of modern consciousness. It becomes a form of imaginative cognition of the world and oneself by a person, the organ of his "inner vision".

As an unsurpassed source of creative abilities, fantasy, organizing our knowledge, extends to scientific knowledge, creating syntheses of philosophy and psychology, philosophy and physics, etc.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.