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This book provides an overview of imagination and its role for survival in a complex, high-intensity environment. More than this, this book aims, ambitiously, to inspire imagination. It establishes that imagination is neither abstract nor frivolous, but a technique, a skill, and a discipline that one must embrace to facilitate the transformation of both society and oneself. Whether facing contemporary challenges like climate change, social and political crises, or grappling with the complexities posed by artificial intelligence, machine learning, or transhumanism, imagination seems to be what is lacking in order both to endure and to build. Often reduced to the realm of artists, imagination is a unique value added by humankind, one that can envision a way of creating new worlds. In this book, the imagination becomes a spiritual exercise aimed at rethinking our ways of life in order to establish both a new construction of oneself and society. Researchers and general readers alike will find much in this call to imagine how other worlds might be possible.
List of contents
PART I.UNDERSTANDING IMAGINATION.- What does imagination stand for.- PART II WHY IMAGINATION.- A Mulitifaceted need.- Innovation - Benefits and Uses.- Imagination's responsibility.- PART III. MAKE IMAGINATION.- Imagination as a technical discipline.- PART IV. LIVING IMAGINATION.- Living the life you have imagined: Thoreau's Lesson.- Imagination as a spiritual exercise.
About the author
Xavier Pavie is a philosopher, professor at ESSEC Business School, program director at the International College of Philosophy (CIPh), and director of the Imagination Center. He is also a research associate at the Institute of Philosophical Research (IREPH) at Paris Nanterre University. With a master's degree in management and a master's degree in philosophy, he holds a Ph.D in philosophy with Habilitation for Research Supervision. He is also a graduate of the International Teachers Programme (HEC Paris) and the Global Colloquium (Harvard Business School). After spending nearly fifteen years in various organizations (Nestlé, Unilever, Club Méditerranée) in innovation roles, he joined ESSEC Business School in 2008 to lead the Institute of Innovation Strategy in Services. In 2012, he founded the iMagination Center, which is dedicated to exploring imagination, innovation, and transdisciplinarity to foster the emergence of responsible innovation. The center has trained over 15,000 students (Bachelor, Master, and Executive) and received multiple awards for pedagogical innovation in France and internationally.
His research focuses on philosophical spiritual exercises, which he applies to innovation, imagination, lifestyle, and responsibility. In 2011, he was tasked with defining the concept of responsible innovation within a European Commission-supported project in collaboration with an international network of universities. In 2014, he was appointed president of the "Innovation-Regulation-Governance" evaluation committee of the French National Research Agency (ANR) for the Horizon 2020 program. In 2022, he was elected program director at the International College of Philosophy, where he investigates the philosophical, societal, and economic issues surrounding critical innovation.
His teaching, aimed at initial and executive education students, focuses primarily on responsible innovation, ancient philosophy, and responsibility.
From 2016 to 2022, Xavier Pavie served as Academic Director of the Master in Management program in Singapore. His time in Asia enhanced his research on responsible innovation, expanding its scope beyond Europe. This led to the development of several case studies with NGOs across Asia, including in the Philippines (Gawad Kalinga), Cambodia (Pour un Sourire d’Enfant and Passerelles Numériques), Malaysia (Dignity), and India (Auroville).
Xavier Pavie has published around twenty books and numerous articles for both academic and general audiences. His book L'innovation à l'épreuve de la philosophie, PUF, 2018 (Toward Responsible Innovation) was awarded Best Management Book in 2019.
He has been a visiting professor at several international institutions, including Kaunas University (Lithuania), the Geneva School of Business Administration (Switzerland), and La Trobe University (Australia). He continues to teach regularly at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and the Catholic Institute of Paris.
Xavier Pavie has been recognized as one of the most influential global educational figures, ranking 5th in LinkedIn's Top Voices.
