Metaphor And Cognition

It has been more than2000years since people began the study of metaphor in thewestern countries. People have already realized from early times that languages are full ofmetaphors, but traditionally people hold the view that metaphor is just a means of rhetoric, akind of phenomenon in language, which can only be used in poetry. In other words,metaphor and language can be separated, metaphor helps to achieve some special decoratedeffect. In fact, metaphor is not only a way of rhetoric, but a means of thinking and cognition.G. Lakoff illustrates by using a large number of examples the intimate relationship betweenlanguage and cognitive structure, pointing out the idea of conceptual metaphor and makingthe study of metaphor into the field of cognition.This dissertation introduces the development of the theory of conceptual metaphor,discusses metaphor from the perspective of cognition and makes analysis on Lakoff’sexplanation about the philosophical subject “time” as well as other philosophers’ ideas.This dissertation includes four chapters apart from introduction and epilogue.Chapter One discusses the development of the Theory of Conceptual Metaphor. Alongthe history of metaphor study, the author introduces traditional ideas about metaphor and itstheories. In ancient Greek both Plato and Aristotle regarded metaphor as a means of rhetoric,a phenomenon in language, although Plato was against while Aristotle was for the use ofmetaphor. In ancient Rome, Quitilian put forward the Theory of Substitution on the basis ofAristotle’s study. He pointed out that metaphor is the substitution of one word for another.The Theory of Comparison also derived from Aristotle’s study. In1930s I. A. Richards putforward the Theory of Interaction, causing the change of people’s attitude towards metaphor.Richards thinks that two concepts expressing two different things are usually combinedtogether when we use metaphor, its meaning being the result of the interaction of these twoconcepts. The publication of the book Metaphors We Live by written by G. Lakoff and M.Johnson in1980initiated the era of metaphoric study, conceptual metaphor became the corein the study of metaphor. Lakoff pointed out that metaphor is a kind of cognitivephenomenon, an indispensable tool to form human thought system. The book Women, Fire,and Dangerous Things—What Categories Reveal about the Mind written by Lakoff in1987establishes the role of metaphor in cognition. On the basis of conceptual metaphor, American scholars Fauconnier&Turner put forward Conceptual Blending Theory. In1999Lakoff and Johnson published their book Philosophy In The Flesh—the Embodied Mind andIts Challenge to Western Thought, which signals the formation of Lakoff’s philosophicalidea.Chapter Two gives a brief introduction about metaphor from the perspective ofcognition. Basing on important discoveries in cognitive science, Lakoff puts forward theidea that “the mind is inherently embodied, thought is mostly unconscious, abstractconcepts are largely metaphorical”. Lakoff focuses his philosophy of language on theembodied mind and the function of metaphor in abstract reasoning. Lakoff discusses indetail embodied concepts, which include color concepts, basic-level categories andspatial-relation concepts. In addition, Lakoff introduces two kinds of metaphors, primarymetaphor and complex metaphor, which provide basis for the explanation of philosophicalsubjects and philosophers’ ideas.Chapter Three introduces the explanation of the subject “time” from the view ofcognitive metaphor. Lakoff had a bold try to examine from the perspective of metaphor andcognitive science the subject “time”, which had been discussed by many philosophers. Heput forward “The Time Orientation Metaphor”,“The Moving Time Metaphor” and “TheMoving Observer Metaphor”. He thinks, like any other metaphors, time metaphor isembodied as well.“Time” is not an entity in the world, we can not sense time. We can only“sense” time indirectly through the movement of objects. That is to say, our brain and bodycan help us to form the concept of time by sensing space and movement.Chapter Four introduces the explanation of philosophical school and philosophers’ideas from the perspective of metaphor and cognition. Lakoff discusses the causes ofphilosophers’ theories. He thinks that the Milesian Thales regarded “water” as the essenceof being. There is a metaphor here, that is,“The Essence of Being Is Water”. In thismetaphor,“water” is source domain, while “the essence of ‘being’” is target domain, thekey of forming metaphor is the mapping: the matter “water” from sensorimotor experienceis mapped onto abstract subjective experience (the essence of being). To Lakoff,Heraclitus’s core of idea is also a metaphor: The Essence of Being Is Change. We can senseeasily the change around us, our sense to change is embodied. As for Aristotle, we can notoverstate his influence to the world. Lakoff thinks Aristotle’s whole philosophical ideas arebased on four Folk Theories and two metaphors. that is, The Folk Theory of Intelligibility ofThe World, The Folk Theory of General Kinds, The Folk Theory of Essences, The FolkTheory of the All-Inclusive Category, Ideas Are Essences Metaphor and Essences Are Forms Metaphor. What Descartes concerned most is the possibility of certain knowledge.Lakoff thinks that Descartes’ entire account is based on a tightly interwoven cluster ofmetaphors, among which the most fundamental one is the KNOWING IS SEEINGMetaphor. Kant’s philosophy is another peak in the history of philosophy. To Lakoff, Kant’smorality is Strict Father Morality.“Reason as a Strict Father Metaphor” and “The Family ofMan Metaphor” are important in Kant’s morality. For Chomsky mind has nothing to do withembodiment, perception and concept are separated, reason is transcendental, independent ofsensory ability and body movement. Basing on cognitive discoveries, Lakoff thinkslanguage is not self-governing, sentence construction is not independent of meaning, instead,it is from sensorimotor cortex.