朱光潜和李泽厚自上世纪50年代到新时期逐渐形成了关于“形象思维”的原创性理论，两人的形象思维论各具特色，但有一点是共同的且具有代表性，即都最终将“想象”与“形象思维”这两个概念等同起来，区别仅在于：朱光潜几乎始终将“形象思维”与“想象”等而视之；而李泽厚则有一个较明显的演变历程，最后以“想象”终结了“形象思维”。在中国当代美学史上，“形象思维”只作为一个“过渡型概念”而存在，但这并不能证明“形象思维”概念及其理论没有长久的学理价值，在今天语言学转向和视觉文化的语境下，“形象思维”的意义被再次凸显了出来。

Zhu Guangqian's and Li Zehou's concepts of "imagistic thinking" were formed in the 1950s and the Post-Mao Period, with each having distinctive characteristics and both having common ground. While both equal "imagination" with "imagistic thinking," Zhu had always been taking them as the same and Li’s concept has evolved into using imagination to replace imagistic thinking. Although imagistic thinking is a transitional concept in the history of contemporary Chinese aesthetics, its theoretical value and significance are highlighted in the present context of  linguistic turn and visual culture.