Metaphor, myth, and archetype: Equal paradigmatic functions in human cognition?

摘要

The overview of contributions to metaphor theory in Chapters 1 and 2, examined in reference to recent scholarship, suggests that the current theory of metaphor derives from long-standing traditions that regard metaphor as a crucial process of cognition. This overview calls to attention the necessity of a closer inspection of previous theories of metaphor.; Chapter 3 takes initial steps in synthesizing views of domains of inquiry into cognitive processes of the human mind. It draws from cognitive models developed in linguistics and anthropology, taking into account hypotheses put forth by psychologists like Jung. It sets the stage for an analysis that intends to further understanding of how the East-West dichotomy guides, influences, and expresses cognitive processes. Although linguist George Lakoff denies the existence of a connection between metaphors, myths, and archetypes, Chapter 3 illustrates the possibility of a relationship among these phenomena.; By synthesizing theoretical approaches, Chapter 3 initiates the development of a model suitable for the analysis of the East-West dichotomy as exercised in Chapter 4. As purely emergent from bodily experience, however, neither the concept of the East nor the concept of the West can be understood completely. There exist cultural experiences that may, depending on historical and social context, override bodily experience inclined to favor the East over the West because of the respective connotations of place of birth of the sun and place of death of the sun. This kind of overriding cultural meaning is based on the "typical, frequently recurring and widely shared interpretations of some object, abstract entity, or event evoked in people as a result of similar experiences. To call these meanings 'cultural meanings' is to imply that a different interpretation is evoked in people with different characteristic experiences. As such, various interpretations of the East-West image-schema exist simultaneously in mutually exclusive or competing forms, as the analysis of Gatsby and the reversal of the values of East and West in the context of colonizing and counter-colonizing attitudes suggests.