Posted by Racer on August 10, 2004, at 14:30:25
OK, so if I feel that way, why am I reading it in the first place? It's not like I'm reading it for any purpose other than my own benefit -- so, why would I do that?
(I know, I'm suffering from a Serious Mental Illness...)
I'm reading "Metaphors We Live By" by George Lakoff, which really is an interesting subject, but I guess I'd forgotten how pedantically *dense* philosophical books can be! I think that, if Jasper Fforde's bookworms could get a hold of it, and chew up some of the excess commas...
Seriously, though, as well as venting a bit, I really wanted to bring this book up. Philosophy of linguistics, which is almost as bad as Pure Philosophy in terms of density, but at least has some very practical implications in everyday life. The basic concept is that the metaphors we use not only reflect our thought processes, but actually *influence* them, form them. Why does our language relating to arguments use so many metaphoric references to war? We "win" an argument, use "strategies", "devastate" our "opponent", etc. Now, I was aware that the language we use to describe the world around us highlights and hinders our perception of it, and that you can learn an awful lot by listening to the words people choose. But you know what? Here I'm thinking, "yeah, I get it, and I betcha I'll have seen most of the metaphors he brings up, on accounta I already figured out it was goin' on." YEAH! Right! On the very first page, it totally realigned my little ego -- some of these metaphors are so deeply embedded in our culture (assuming, of course, that "we" are western-european in culture) that I literally *cannot* see any other way of describing the concepts! And that from someone who doesn't find the process of communication transparent, and does give this subject a lot of thought.
So, yowsa. Anyone else familiar with this guy's work? He's an academic at UC Berkeley, and his latest book, "Moral Politics" (not an oxymoron when we're talking linguistics, I guess), is on my "Need To Buy" list, right at the top.
poster:Racer
thread:376078
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20040616/msgs/376078.html