DWELLS@G.BBN.COM (Dori Wells) (03/07/88)
BBN Science Development Program
Language & Cognition Seminar Series
COGNITION AND METAPHOR
Professor Bipin Indurkhya
Computer Science Department
Boston University
BBN Laboratories Inc.
10 Moulton Street
Large Conference Room, 2nd Floor
10:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 9, 1988
Abstract: In past years a view of cognition has been emerging in which
metaphors play a key role. However, a satisfactory explanation of the
mechanisms underlying metaphors and how they aid cognition is far from
complete.
In particular, earlier theories of metaphors have been unable to account
for how metaphors can "create" new, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives
on the target domain.
In this talk I will address some of the issues related to the role metaphors
play in cognition. I will first lay an algebraic framework for cognition,
and then in this context I will pose the problem of metaphor. Two mechanisms
will be proposed to explain the workings of metaphors. One of these
mechanisms gives rise to what we call "projective metaphors", and it is
shown how projective metaphors can "create" new perspectives and new
ontologies on the target domain. The talk will conclude with a brief
discussion of some further implications of the theory on "Direct Reference
vs. Descriptive Reference", "Is all knowledge metaphorical?", and
"Induction and Analogies", among other things.
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