Since the 1950s there has been a renewed interest in social imaginary, resulting in the birth of visual studies and in the so-called "iconic turning point". The present paper attempts to highlight the importance of an ethical investigation of the role assumed by the image and the imaginary in contemporary society. Castoriadis and Taylor, in particular, have developed original interpretative ways of social imaginaries in the Western cultural framework, thus providing new meanings for human actions. Indeed, their theories show that it is not possible to support the supremacy of the image itself nor of the language analyzed tout court, but we must rather discuss, in its ethical implications, an expressive language that is "metaphorical". The use of this language also implies new responsibilities for human actions that the ethics of communication is called to investigate.