This book explores contemporary philosophical treatments of the central concept of the imagination in Eastern and Western philosophies. Fourteen contributions address the topic of imagination from East Asian, continental European, comparative, and post-comparative perspectives. “Imagination” has been a central theme throughout the history of Western philosophy. From the writings of Plato and Aristotle, drawing on the etymological links between idea (ιδέα from the Greek “to see” εἴδω) and image (εικόν), and between phantasy (φαντασία) and appearance (“phainomenon” φαινόμενο), through to contemporary philosophical scholarship, the imagination in its various senses has consistently been afforded significance in how the world is encountered, experienced, and conceived. The role of imagination may be understood negatively, as departing from the real, as false, or as deficient, and therefore as demanding a corrective or critique; or positively, as constructive, as invaluable, even as necessary in the projection of possible worlds. Turning to non-western philosophy, while the idea of imagination as a mental faculty makes less sense, we still encounter comparable notions of imaginative engagement: Conceptions of the illusory and illusions, the development of fantastic narratives and metaphors, the relation between projection and truth, and the use of images and allegories as well as implicit discussions concerning the imagination abound in all schools.