Imagination in Practice

Abstract

After beginning with a discussion of a concrete historical development of considerable import, namely the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the circumstances surrounding this development, I proceeded to offer arguments that have been largely technical and theoretical. I want now to display some of the practical implications of these technical and theoretical arguments for the study of this historical event as well as for framing current public policy debates. I shall begin by returning briefly to the history of the Sixteenth Amendment and reframing the basic challenges before us in our attempt to understand how and why it came about as it did. I’ll then explore some ways in which Vico’s approach illuminates this story. Following this demonstration, I will turn to the two current, controversial topics to show why the method of inquiry one uses to understand these cases has great practical and moral significance and how Vico’s method is, therefore, our best option.