自古希臘始，哲學家就注意到想像與知識相關，雖然當時視想像為錯誤知識的根源，今日，想像卻被公認為各學科知識的核心能力。本文以二十世紀英國哲學家柯林伍德(R. G. Collingwood)的理論來說明這個轉變，除了呈現「想像」問題的歷史討論與科林伍德的理論承襲外，也探討他如何在辯證法中，讓「想像」成為各學科知識的核心能力。本文共二部分，其一：藉由追溯哲學史對「想像」的探討，聚焦「想像」在知識論上問題意識的轉變，此調查將從古希臘時期柏拉圖與亞里斯多德開始，到柯林伍德為止。其二，以柯林伍德著作《心靈鏡像》(Speculum Mentis)來說明學科知識如何與想像運作，使各學科擁有自己的獨特知識。

Since ancient Greek, philosophers had noticed that imagination was related to knowing, though it had been regarded as the cause of false knowledge. Today, imagination is approved as the core ability of understanding. This thesis will deal with this issue through the viewpoint of the 20th-century England philosopher, R. G. Collingwood. It investigates not only the conversion of the problematic of imagination in history and its effect on Collingwood, but how Collingwood dialectically made imagination the core of each field’s knowledge. There’re two parts in the article. First, tracing back the philosophical discussing in history to find out the conversion of the problematic in Epistemology. The investigation would begin with Plato and Aristotle and end with Collingwood. Next, explaining how imagination joins the work of knowing and makes each subject have its own knowledge in his book, Speculum Metis.