Imagination is an intriguing faculty of our mind. Its objects often do not exist in the external world but entirely within the mental, such as the “golden mountain.” However, there are limits to imagination when paradoxical concepts such as the “round square” are examined. Such concepts disclose the logical contradiction away from possible worlds and locate themselves in the impossible, also referred to as non-sense. But as Wittgenstein suggests, even non-sense can retain meaning in certain contexts, through language games or philosophical play. This paper will examine the limits of imagination by exploring the objects of imagination and their non-sense, often reflected in language. Further, the study will compare the philosophical non-sense to the psychoanalytical non-sense. By aligning the philosophical concern of the impossible with Lacan’s interpretation of the unconscious, this study contends that non-sense, when viewed through the functioning of the unconscious, becomes intelligible and does not mark an epistemic failure rather unravels the unconscious meaning that resists representation. Thus, letting the logical limits of thought serve as a pathway to its meaning, suggesting that non-sense can itself be meaningful.
