Research On Embodied Cognition And Methodology Of Availability

The traditional metaphor is an analogy of metaphorical words,not an understanding of metaphorical thinking.In the 1980s,Lakoff redefined the concept of metaphor,thinking that the essence of metaphor is to understand and feel one kind of things through the linguistic vocabulary of another kind of things^（1）.Therefore,metaphor is a way of thinking and cognition,not just the similarity of things.Embodied metaphor is the attribute of relationship between things,that is to say,it is a kind of mapping relation formed in the brain through the relation between body and environment,adapting to the change of environment.It is based on the embodied metaphor between things and thought that we can understand abstract concepts.When analyzing embodied metaphors through availability,the concept of availability not only satisfies the connotation of Gibson’s ecological philosophy of environmental information pickup,but also emphasizes the relationship between people and things.This relational attribute not only refers to the relationship that exists in the natural environment,that is,the availability relationship between the environment and the body,but also the availability relationship in the social environment（embodied metaphorical environment）,that is,the availability of the body to the brain and the activity of brain neurons to the brain.By analyzing the availability relationship in embodied metaphors,clarifying the availability in the environment,utilizing beneficial availability,and promoting the understanding and expression of embodied metaphors.As a methodology,availability not only has inherent objectivity in its environment,but also dynamically changes with environmental information.However,this dynamism is limited,meaning that within a specific range of embodied metaphors,availability has clear boundaries,and once beyond these boundaries,availability cannot be recognized as embodied metaphors.The three attributes of availability（objectivity,dynamism,and boundary）correspond to the characteristics of embodied metaphor.Therefore,using the methodology of availability to explain embodied metaphor has theoretical and practical foundations.In the methodology of studying embodied cognition and availability,firstly,the concept of availability is defined and its philosophical basis is clarified,secondly,the connection between embodied metaphor and availability is analyzed,in particular,an abstract theory of human perception;then,three models of embodied metaphorical availability are used to explain the role of availability in embodied metaphor;finally,to explore the significance of the methodology of availability in embodied metaphor,and to enrich our knowledge of availability.