E.V. Ilyenkov and Hegel: the role of imagination in science

The article compares two approaches to the interpretation of imagination in the dialectical tradition those of G. W. F. Hegel and E. V. Ilyenkov. In Hegel's logic, the imagination is assigned, although an important, but still limited role as a mediator between perception and conceptual thinking. In Ilyenkov’s concept of ideality, on the contrary, imagination is understood as a universal ability that manifests itself at all levels of human interaction with the world, from practical activities to theoretical discourse. The article shows that this approach, in contrast to the Hegelian scheme, more fully reflects the development of scientific knowledge. Two examples from the history of science are considered. The first refers to the emergence of the idea of a trajectory of motion at the dawn of the formation of classical mechanics. It is shown that the formation of this idea in the 16th century is associated with the solution of practical problems of external ballistics. The second example analyzes the development of geometric methods in mechanics of the 19th century. It is shown that with the formation of analytical mechanics, reaching a high conceptual level, imagination still performs an important cognitive function, providing a deeper understanding of the problems being solved.