ABSTRACT
The problem of imaginative resistance holds interest for aestheticians, literary theorists, ethicists, philosophers of mind, and epistemologists. Cantian theories maintain that imaginative resistance at its core can be traced to the impossibility of engaging in some sort of prompted imaginative activity: One simply cannot imagine as one has been invited to. Wontian theories maintain that imaginative resistance can be traced to an unwillingness to engage in some sort of prompted imaginative activity: one simply will not imagine as one has been invited to. Wontian theories typically take the imaginability puzzle to be fundamental. As the imaginative resistance literature moves toward maturity, both cantians and wontians have attempted to incorporate insights from the other. But despite their increasingly subtle disagreements about the nature of imaginative resistance, both cantians and wontians accept the existence of the phenomenon. One notable strand explores the role of genre in evoking or dissipating imaginative resistance.
