Blog post assignment on Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
Posted on: April 9, 2009
1) How do Lakoff and Johnson suggest metaphors are usually defined or thought of?
Lakoff and Johnson suggest that metaphors are a rhetorical device of the poetic imagination. They state that metaphors are typically viewed as characteristic of language, a matter of words rather than thought or action.
2) How do they define “metaphor”?
Lakoff and Johnson have found metaphors to be pervasive in everyday life. Therefore, metaphors are more than just a matter of language and words. They believe that the way humans think and their thought processes are metaphorical; therefore, when they use the word metaphor, they really mean metaphorical concept.
3) What do they mean by the following: “Our conceptual system is largely metaphorical”? (pg 3)
They mean that the way humans think, what we experience, and what we do every day is much of a matter of a metaphor. However, our conceptual system is not something that we are normally aware of and therefore we do not realize how metaphorical in nature humans really are.
4) What do they mean by a “metaphorical concept”? (pg 6)
Metaphorical concept means that metaphors influence the way we conceptualize life, meaning metaphors influence the way we think, act, and perceive people. The metaphorical concept is systematic and can be extended beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking.
5) They write on page 11 that “linguistic expressions are containers for meaning entails that words (and sentences) have meanings…independent of contexts and speakers.” But they argue that words = ideas and ideas / concepts / beliefs arise from our context and experience. For example, how would you complete the following thought [with one word?]:
Moms are selfless. To what degree is the way you completed this sentence based on your own experience and background and from the notion (concept) of what “moms are” from the culture in which you’ve been immersed and exposed? The sentence I completed is based entirely on my own experience and background. To me my mom is selfless. Like many of the moms in my town and the areas, which I have been immersed and exposed to, my mom has made raising her children her top priority. She puts my siblings and my happiness over hers and is willing to anything to help us grow up to be the best people we can.
6) True or false: All language is figurative (metaphorical). Explain and defend your answer, providing examples.
False: Not all language is figurative. There are many words that take on literal meanings. The metaphors we use are not the actual word use, it is our own personal concept of the word we use and the way we use it.
For example, it my sentence above: Moms are selfless. That is not a literal meaning that all moms are selfless, but to me it is a word I would associate with moms, as a result of my own perception of them. However, someone with different experience, maybe a more negative experience, may associate the word mom with a word that takes on an entirely different meaning.
Margaretchristian's Blog 
Leave a comment