THE ECO-IMAGINATION OF LIFE: TOWARD A MATERIAL ECO-PHENOMENOLOGY MAX SCHAEFER ANALECTA HUSSERLIANA: THE YEARBOOK OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH ISSUE TITLE: ECO-IMAGINATION AS THE NEW PHENOMENOLOGICAL FRONTIER VOLUME 126 (FORTHCOMING IN 2025) Abstract: This work engages with Michel Henry’s phenomenological account of the imagination and its ability to further our understanding of the relation between human life and the natural world. I argue that Henry’s account of the imagination does in fact harbour the ability to positively contribute to a renewal of our understanding of the relation between human life and the natural world. It does so, for one, by showing how the forgetting of life’s imagination plays a significant role in opening the way for the natural and objectivist view of nature that currently prevails in modern Western civilization. More than that, Henry’s account of the imagination reveals that nature and human beings belong together in a community of life. As such, I maintain that his analyses reveal that nature is not merely natural but also cultural (i.e., it participates in the realms of aesthetics, ethics, and religion, among others) and that it is essential to the flourishing of cultural life. Consequently, I contend that the imagination plays a crucial role in revealing the importance of creating and adopting more sustainable environmental practices. In closing, I highlight certain shortcomings in Henry’s material phenomenology, and I suggest how these shortcomings can be put right without abandoning his insights into the imagination and the richer and more sustainable relations it engenders and sustains with nature. Keywords: Michel Henry, life, affectivity, body, imagination, nature, culture Department of Philosophy, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Ave, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada mschaefer@upei.ca 1