Comments on: Hans and Umbach: The Role of Metaphor in Embodied Interaction http://daneomatic.com/wp/2010/04/18/metaphor-embodied-interaction/ Like tweets, but with grammar. Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:25:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dane http://daneomatic.com/wp/2010/04/18/metaphor-embodied-interaction/comment-page-1/#comment-276 Dane Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:23:17 +0000 http://daneomatic.com/wp/?p=833#comment-276 Thanks for the tip, Tim! It sounds like that summarizes the next step from here, which is that rationality is something we subjectively ascribe to the physical world, rather than an objective structure that we discover through logical processes (such as mathematics or the scientific method). Our embodied cognition gives rise to our perceived order of the world, yet there is not necessarily any order that exists independent of human consciousness. To say that we "discover" theories that hold true in most (if not all) cases is just a clever linguistic hack, again harkening back to our use of metaphor to structure our understanding of the world. Every time I try to wrap my head around these concepts at that level of depth, though, my brain gets stuck in a painful hermeneutic circle. It's like <em>The Matrix</em> on steroids. Which is, like, a bunch of metaphors wrapped into one. And the idea of metaphors being material, such that they can be "wrapped" into each other, is yet another metaphor. Not to mention that a "bunch" of metaphors implies they're sticks or plants of some sort. Thanks for the tip, Tim! It sounds like that summarizes the next step from here, which is that rationality is something we subjectively ascribe to the physical world, rather than an objective structure that we discover through logical processes (such as mathematics or the scientific method).

Our embodied cognition gives rise to our perceived order of the world, yet there is not necessarily any order that exists independent of human consciousness. To say that we “discover” theories that hold true in most (if not all) cases is just a clever linguistic hack, again harkening back to our use of metaphor to structure our understanding of the world.

Every time I try to wrap my head around these concepts at that level of depth, though, my brain gets stuck in a painful hermeneutic circle. It’s like The Matrix on steroids.

Which is, like, a bunch of metaphors wrapped into one.

And the idea of metaphors being material, such that they can be “wrapped” into each other, is yet another metaphor.

Not to mention that a “bunch” of metaphors implies they’re sticks or plants of some sort.

]]> By: Tim http://daneomatic.com/wp/2010/04/18/metaphor-embodied-interaction/comment-page-1/#comment-275 Tim Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:41:56 +0000 http://daneomatic.com/wp/?p=833#comment-275 Also check out Lakoff & Nuñez's book, Where Mathematics Comes From, for an application of these ideas to mathematics. Bottom line: the standard Platonic view of mathematics that most mathematicians (and nonmathematicians) hold is bunk. Also check out Lakoff & Nuñez’s book, Where Mathematics Comes From, for an application of these ideas to mathematics. Bottom line: the standard Platonic view of mathematics that most mathematicians (and nonmathematicians) hold is bunk.

]]>