ILLUSION OF IMMANENCE

   The term illusion of immanence comes from the Latin words illudere (to mock, to delude, to tempt) and immanere (to remain in). It was introduced in or shortly before 1940 by the French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (19051980) to denote the popular misconception that visually imagined objects constitute images existing somewhere inside human consciousness. As Sartre argues, consciousness does not consist of a 'space' where images are housed.

   References

   Sartre, J.-P. (1940). L'imaginaire: Psychologie, phénoménologique de l'imagination. Paris: Gallimard.