On The Philosophical Foundation Of Cognitive Poetics

Cognitive poetics which integrates linguistics and literature is a new discipline. It is mainly based on cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology. Cognitive poetics not only attends the literary text, but also emphasizes the interaction and communication between readers, authors and texts during the reading process. It is the re-evaluation of the whole literary activity. This new poetics has been influencing nearly every area of human discipline significantly and regarded as another"cognitive revolution"after the linguistic turn.The unique attraction of cognitive poetics initiates interest of scholars. After the successful"The Fourth China English Experts Forum—The First National Conference on Cognitive Poetics", more and more people become keen on themes of cognitive poetics including introduction, application, reflection and modification, etc. It is known that any genuine philosophy is the essential spirit of its age, and the reflection of the spirit is literature. However, the philosophical foundation of cognitive poetics remains to be discussed comprehensively and systematically.The thesis holds that the essence of cognitive poetics can be explored from poetics and cognition. Poetics can be regarded as a special way of cognition and communication. The literary language implies among lines and touches the thought of human being. Cognition, the mystery of mind, is one of important subjects in the twentieth century. American has set up the program of cognition and any other country laid store by it. Moreover, philosophy is the science of all disciplines. Therefore, the dissertation attempts to explore the philosophical foundation of cognitive poetics from categories of philosophy and meaning together with philosophy and cognition on the basis of thought of philosophy and the corresponding theory of cognitive poetics in the following aspects. That is, meaning and function, meaning and context, meaning and interpretation and the embodied mind, the cognitive unconsciousness as well as the metaphorical thought. The research indicates that the philosophy of language, especially analytical philosophy and humanism philosophy, and the embodied philosophy guide the construction and direction of cognitive poetics ultimately. By probing into the philosophical foundation of cognitive poetics, the thesis is expected to promote the construction of cognitive poetics as a discipline, to accelerate the interdisciplinary research among linguistics, literature and philosophy, to improve the comprehension of human thought and cognition.