Metaphor is Stepping Stool

[coberst]

Metaphor is Stepping Stool

I think that we might say that ‘X is A’ is a useful means for comprehending ‘linguistic metaphor’ and also comprehending a new and revolutionary cognitive theory, ‘conceptual metaphor’.

Linguistically I might say ‘X is A’ by which I mean X, the unknown, is like ‘A’ the known. The phrase ‘understand is grasp’ allows me to help someone comprehend the concept ‘understand’ by comparing it to the concept ‘grasp’. ‘It just flew over my head, I was unable to grasp it’ is an expression we all readily comprehend and it also is an example of using a metaphor to express our meaning.

But now comes the revolutionary ‘conceptual metaphor’, which I suspect will become a paradigm of cognitive science. ‘Conceptual metaphor’ is ‘cognitive DNA’. The idea ‘conceptual metaphor’ can be comprehended somewhat by considering it to be DNA like.

An infant might have the experience of warmth when first held by her mother. A concept, which is the neurological structure of this experience, is composed into a ‘mental space’. The experience, now becoming a concept, is structured by the brain so that the brain can draw appropriate inferences about this experience.

Let me call this concept, this experience, this neurological network, ‘B’. Cognitive science, with the aid of technology, has evidence to support the hypothesis that there are many circumstances wherein the brain automatically and without our consciousness of the happening, will ‘map’ parts of ‘B’ onto a new mental space and that structure will become part of the ‘DNA like structure’ of a new experience.

The experience of warmth by the infant can become part of the ‘cognitive DNA’ of the new and subjective concept ‘affection’. This is why we can easily comprehend that ‘affection is warmth’.

Cognitive science, which consists of scientist from the fields of neurology, philosophy, linguistics, and probably others, has been utilizing new technology to develop this possible new paradigm for cognitive science over the last three decades. The book “Philosophy in The Flesh” by Lakoff and Johnson is my source for this knowledge.

If your curiosity is aroused you might do a Google of “conceptual metaphor” (use the quotes).

[Panthrophile]

I don't understand this idea of 'cognitive DNA'.

Language depends on concepts. A linguistic metaphor, then, is just the expression of a conceptual metaphor. This is not a new idea. For decades people've said 'it tastes like chicken'; clearly before before they said that they thought it.

It's well known that people need some degree of familiarity to relate to new ideas; that's why all of our candies taste like orange or strawberry or lime. Ideas must be built on ideas; they are always abstractions.

The conceptual metaphor is obvious, then.

[coberst]

Cognitive science has introduced a revolutionary concept in the form of "conceptual metaphor". I have found this concept to be difficult to comprehend because it is unlike anything I have known before.

I have a difficult time explaining it in a manner that people can understand but I will give some further information about this new possible paradigm for CS. But you will have to make an extensive effort to comprehend the matter. Studying the book is the only way. I suspect any large library has a copy of this book.


We have in our Western philosophy a traditional theory of faculty psychology wherein our reasoning is a faculty completely separate from the body. “Reason is seen as independent of perception and bodily movement.” It is this capacity of autonomous reason that makes us different in kind from all other animals. I suspect that many fundamental aspects of philosophy and psychology are focused upon declaring, whenever possible, the separateness of our species from all other animals.

This tradition of an autonomous reason began long before evolutionary theory and has held strongly since then without consideration, it seems to me, of the theories of Darwin and of biological science. Cognitive science has in the last three decades developed considerable empirical evidence supporting Darwin and not supporting the traditional theories of philosophy and psychology regarding the autonomy of reason. Cognitive science has focused a great deal of empirical science toward discovering the nature of the embodied mind.

The three major findings of cognitive science are:
The mind is inherently embodied.
Thought is mostly unconscious.
Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical.

“These findings of cognitive science are profoundly disquieting [for traditional thinking] in two respects. First, they tell us that human reason is a form of animal reason, a reason inextricably tied to our bodies and the peculiarities of our brains. Second, these results tell us that our bodies, brains, and interactions with our environment provide the mostly unconscious basis for our everyday metaphysics, that is, our sense of what is real.”

All living creatures categorize. All creatures, as a minimum, separate eat from no eat and friend from foe. As neural creatures tadpole and wo/man categorize. There are trillions of synaptic connections taking place in the least sophisticated of creatures and this multiple synapses must be organized in some way to facilitate passage through a small number of interconnections and thus categorization takes place. Great numbers of different synapses take place in an experience and these are subsumed in some fashion to provide the category eat or foe perhaps.

Our categories are what we consider to be real in the world: tree, rock, animal…Our concepts are what we use to structure our reasoning about these categories. Concepts are neural structures that are the fundamental means by which we reason about categories.

Quotes from “Philosophy in the Flesh”.

[resumedocket]

We have in our Western philosophy a traditional theory of faculty psychology wherein our reasoning is a faculty completely separate from the body. “Reason is seen as independent of perception and bodily movement.” It is this capacity of autonomous reason that makes us different in kind from all other animals. I suspect that many fundamental aspects of philosophy and psychology are focused upon declaring, whenever possible, the separateness of our species from all other animals.

Resume Writing (http://www.resumedocket.com/)

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