The Conceptual Blender
The Conceptual Blender
The findings shown from the theory of conceptual blending, also known as the blending theory, described in The Way We Think, by Giles Fauconnier and Mark Turner, allows students and researches an opportunity to better understand both the general and comprehensive organization of linguistic and conceptual occurrences. What is conceptual blending? Conceptual blending is a theory of cognition or the way we think. Conceptual blending, also called conceptual integration, can easily be defined as the combination of two or more concepts. Blending of concepts includes any designs or patterns in the thought process created by the arrangement of two or more forms of previous knowledge that make up the "blend". Blends can help an individual to express or understand the simplest forms of thought, but can also involve highly imaginative and evolved processes of thought (Fauconnier and Turner, 18). The generality of conceptual blending theory derives in part from the fact that humans have a strong ability to create various forms of conceptual integration within their processes of thought. This essay will illustrate a general example of a common conceptual blend, the frames and spaces which make up its network, the difference between constitutive and governing principles applied, and last, how the example 's translation differs under the classical theory of semantics and the new blending theory.
Many concepts used in the blending theory must be understood metaphorically. For one to fully understand the true implication of conceptual blends, that individual must realize that many of the most basic forms of thought used in our conceptual systems must also be comprehended normally via metaphorical-concepts (Lakoff, 9). A simple illustration commonly used throughout The Way We Think is thoughtfully referred to as the riddle of the Buddhist monk, introduced by Arthur Koestler in The Act of Creation. A Buddhist monk begins walking up a mountain at
The findings shown from the theory of conceptual blending, also known as the blending theory, described in The Way We Think, by Giles Fauconnier and Mark Turner, allows students and researches an opportunity to better understand both the general and comprehensive organization of linguistic and conceptual occurrences. What is conceptual blending? Conceptual blending is a theory of cognition or the way we think. Conceptual blending, also called conceptual integration, can easily be defined as the combination of two or more concepts. Blending of concepts includes any designs or patterns in the thought process created by the arrangement of two or more forms of previous knowledge that make up the "blend". Blends can help an individual to express or understand the simplest forms of thought, but can also involve highly imaginative and evolved processes of thought (Fauconnier and Turner, 18). The generality of conceptual blending theory derives in part from the fact that humans have a strong ability to create various forms of conceptual integration within their processes of thought. This essay will illustrate a general example of a common conceptual blend, the frames and spaces which make up its network, the difference between constitutive and governing principles applied, and last, how the example 's translation differs under the classical theory of semantics and the new blending theory.
Many concepts used in the blending theory must be understood metaphorically. For one to fully understand the true implication of conceptual blends, that individual must realize that many of the most basic forms of thought used in our conceptual systems must also be comprehended normally via metaphorical-concepts (Lakoff, 9). A simple illustration commonly used throughout The Way We Think is thoughtfully referred to as the riddle of the Buddhist monk, introduced by Arthur Koestler in The Act of Creation. A Buddhist monk begins walking up a mountain at
Cited: Fauconnier, Giles, and Mark Turner. The Way We Think. New York, Basic Books/Perseus, 2002. Lakoff, George. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. 1992. 4 April 2005 Turner, Mark. Conceptual Integration Networks. 2001. 4 April 2005