June 23, 2003
Metaphor
Go to the woman who washes the sheets and do as she does.
Virginia Montecino: Metaphors in Various Disciplines
Conceptual Metaphor Server
Databank: Examples of Usage of Metaphors of Mind
Mind as Physical Space
Leeds: The Metaphor and Metonymy Group
George Lakoff:
"We conceptualize the world using metaphor, so commonly, automatically, and unconsciously that we're not aware of it. As a result, we think metaphorically a large part of the time, and act in our everyday lives on the basis of the metaphors through which we understand the world. Over the past fifteen years, its been discovered that we share a fixed, conventional system of conceptual metaphor--a system of thousands of "metaphorical mappings," each permitting us to understand one domain of experience in terms of another, typically more concrete, domain."
"Our brains are built for metaphorical thought. Since we've evolved with "high-level" cortical areas taking input from "lower level" perceptual and motor areas, it should be no surprise that spatial and motor concepts should form the basis of abstract reason. Metaphor is the name we give to our capacity to use perceptual and motor inferential mechanisms as the basis for abstract inferential mechanisms. Metaphorical language is simply a consequence of this capacity for metaphorical thinking."
George Lakoff Home Page
Piero Scaruffi: George Lakoff: Women, Fire and Dangerous Things
Citeseer: G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Metaphors We Live By
Tony Veale: CogSci, Metaphor comprehension
Dom Massaro UCSC: Cognitive Psychology Glossary
Cogsci 2001 Programme | The Roles of Body and Mind in Abstract Thought
The Roles of Thought and Experience in the Understanding of Spatio-temporal Metaphors
Cognitive Science Research Papers
Cognitive Science Summaries
Connexions: Current research in cognitive science
Knowledge Ecology Resources