Transcript The Immersive Metaphor

Beyond Metaphor
Philosophy of Communication
The Immersive Metaphor
Zsuzsanna Kondor
Institute for Philosophical Research of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences
Keywords in Communication
Chicago, May 20-25 2009
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Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
•
Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
“[E]ven the best of writings are but a
reminiscence of what we know, and ... only in
principles of justice and goodness and nobility
taught and communicated orally for the sake of
instruction and graven in the soul, which is the
true way of writing, is there clearness and
perfection and seriousness, and ... such
principles are a man's own and his legitimate
offspring”. (Plato, Phaedrus 278a (transl. by Benjamin
Jowett))
“The objectivist paradigm can be broken
down into two parts: [m]etaphysics [and]
[e]pistemology”.(Lakoff, Women, Fire, and
Dangerous Things, p. 159) This means
that human understanding is considered
an independent phenomenon without any
relation to its circumstances. This is
possible because of some additional
presuppositions, viz. that the human mind
works as a machine which manipulates
symbols. These symbols represent the
entities discussed above, as well as the
properties of the entities and their
relations. Symbols are “internal
representations of external reality” and
gain their meaning “via correspondence to
the things in the external world”.(Ibid. p.
xii.) Thought is characterized by a certain
atomism, i.e. thoughts are made up of
simple “building blocks”. These atomistic
blocks can be manipulated in accordance
with general principles.
•
Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
Chicago :
The University of
Chicago Press,
(1987) 1990
• George Lakoff, “The
contemporary theory of
metaphor” in: Andrew
Ortony (ed.) Metaphor
and Thought, Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1993
Chicago: The
University of Chicago
Press, 1987 (1990)
Mark Johnson – image schemas
•
Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
Making a Paper Box
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Step 1 On one sheet of paper, measure 2
inches from each corner and mark this spot.
Step 2 Fold each edge inward along your 2inch markings and crease firmly. You may
want to draw a line connecting each
marking to show the entire length of the
crease you will be making.
Step 3 Fold each corner inward, making a
triangle. Each triangle should line up
perfectly with the side of the box. However,
if it isn't perfect, the box will still turn out
fine.
Step 4 Tape each triangle down along the
inside of the box. For a more stable shape,
you may also want to fold a piece of tape
over the edge, securing the top of the
triangle as well.
Step 5 Repeat Steps 1 through 4 with the
second piece of paper, only this time
measure 2 1/4 inches from each edge to
make a slightly smaller shape. This will fit
neatly inside the first box, creating a bottom
and a lid.
Making a Paper Box
•
•
•
•
•
Step 1 On one sheet of paper, measure 2
inches from each corner and mark this spot.
Step 2 Fold each edge inward along your 2inch markings and crease firmly. You may
want to draw a line connecting each marking
to show the entire length of the crease you
will be making.
Step 3 Fold each corner inward, making a
triangle. Each triangle should line up
perfectly with the side of the box. However, if
it isn't perfect, the box will still turn out fine.
Step 4 Tape each triangle down along the
inside of the box. For a more stable shape,
you may also want to fold a piece of tape
over the edge, securing the top of the
triangle as well.
Step 5 Repeat Steps 1 through 4 with the
second piece of paper, only this time
measure 2 1/4 inches from each edge to
make a slightly smaller shape. This will fit
neatly inside the first box, creating a bottom
and a lid.
Pierre Jacob and
Marc Jeannerod,
Ways of seeing:
The Scope and Limits
of Visual Cognition,
Oxford : Oxford Univ.
Press (2003) 2004
The Fortune Teller, probably
1630s by Georges de La Tour
(French, 1593�1652)
illusions that are obvious in perception are
not visible in action: grip is appropriate for
physical, not perceived size
J. Kevin O'Regan
Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University
Press, 1953
Compare with Ivins’ idea
”It is made up of discrete entities with discrete
logical combinations of atomic properties and
relations holding among those entities. Some
properties are essential; others are accidental.
Properties define categories, and categories
defined by essential properties correspond to
the kinds of things that there are. And the
existence of classical categories provides logical
relations that hold objectively in the world.”
(Lakoff, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, p.
xiv.)
•
Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
• As mean group size
rises so does
neocortex ratio
Cambridge: Harvard
University Press 1993
•
Unifying conceptual and physical
– The gap between the body and the mind
– Conceptual metaphor theory as a bridge
over the gap
•
•
The immersive images
Cohesion and communication
– Communication and cognitive evolution
– Communications technology
Cognitive evolution
{episodic memory; mimesis; language;
external symbolic storage system}
Group size
{from small groups to
society}
Communications technology
{gestures;language /cave paintings;
writing; book printing; electronic
media; mobile technology}
Violets. Woodcut from the Great
Herbal, 1525, London
A good example:
botany
Violets. Woodcut
from Brunfel’s
Herbarum viva
eicones,
Strassburg,
1530
Photo of a Viola sororia (Common Blue Violet)
Leaves in the Sun
Chlorophyll Biosynthesis
Thanks for your attention
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