Title: Metaphors We Live By
Author: George Lakoff
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Year of Publication: 1980
George Lakoff
George Lakoff is cognitive linguist and a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has tackled traditional questions that have been pursued by linguistics, but he is most noted for his thoughts on metaphors and how they relate to human thinking, political behavior, and society.
Lakoff had many heated debates with Noam Chomsky over semantics and syntax. These debates are commonly referred to as the “linguistics wars.”
Lakoff’s thesis on conceptual metaphor is expressed in Metaphors We Live By, which will be discussed later in this book review. He also had thoughts on the “embodied mind.” With this, Lakoff is arguing that almost all of human cognition, up through the most abstract reasoning, makes use of concrete and “low-level” facilities as emotions and the sensorimotor system. Lakoff also dabbled with math. He believed that math was subjective to the human species and their different cultures.
Book Overview
Metaphors are not merely linguistic constructions. They are not only used by poets and writers. Rather, they are conceptual constructions and are central to the development of thought. Lakoff and Johnson claim that metaphors make our thoughts more vivid and interesting, along with structuring perceptions and understanding. For example, Lakoff uses the metaphor that ARGUMENT IS WAR.
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
I demolished his argument.
I’ve never won an argument with him.
We don’t just talk about arguments in terms of war, but many things we do in arguing are structured by the concept of war. This example shows a metaphorical concept, ARGUMENT IS WAR, structuring what we do and how we understand what we do when we argue. “The essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” (Lakoff, 5).
Metaphor is not just a matter of language or mere words. Human thought processes are highly metaphorical. Metaphors as linguistic expressions are possible because of one’s conceptual system. Therefore, when speaking about metaphors, one should approach it as a metaphorical concept, not a linguistic metaphor.
Arguments usually follow patterns. It was seen in the ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor that there is a systematic way of talking about the battling aspects of arguing.
There is another kind of metaphorical concept discussed in the novel. When dealing with orientational metaphors, they do not structure one concept in terms of another, but rather organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another. Most of these metaphors deal with spatial orientation such as up-down, in-out, and front-back. Examples of orientational metaphors include, I’m feeling up, that boosts my spirits, and my spirits rose.
Critique
Lakoff and Johnson assert that metaphors are not just rhetorical devices of poets. Metaphors are used to speak of arguments in terms of battles. They are also used in spatial or non-spatial relationships. Metaphors also serve the purpose of personifying. Lakoff and Johnson argue that the metaphors are not just matters of language, but are used in reasoning and understanding. They present a very convincing argument, and one that I am inclined to agree with.
Information Architecture
Metaphors are a problem when it comes to IA systems. The literal meaning might differ from the conveyed meaning. Language and semantics are very important in the discussion of information architecture.
I believe you included this book in the book list because using metaphors throughout a site is troublesome due to classification. Although this book is lengthy and becomes a little redundant, I would say that it is beneficial for people in the class to read it.
