el·e·ga·tion: being highly effective, yet simple
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George Lakoff
Metaphors We Live By
I have been a big fan of Lakoff since undergrad. I found him by chance in the local bookstore near Champaign. The ideas he and Johnson bring forth in Philosophy in the Flesh (actual text available in this link via googlebooks).
have altered my thought process, and I feel there is potential to study and apply these theories to enhance our lives in many areas. Lakoff himself has been carrying the water on applying metaphorical thinking to the progressive movement. It is obvious Obama has been using narratives and metaphors quite well in his campaign, as described in an earlier post. I believe these theories can be applied to medicine, human behavior, and human communication.
Recent posts I found on blogs around the world about Metaphors We Live By
1. I found this post on the blog "Labour and Capital"
"Surprising isn't it that we use loads of different expressions based around one metaphor? That leads on to one of the fundamental arguments in the book - that metaphors are not merely linguistic devices, they are conceptual. We don't just use the 'theories are buildings' metaphor to get across our message, we actually think and act in those terms too."
2. Getting things done: applied metaphors - Productive Flourishing Blog
"But the more fundamental point about metaphors is that they have a powerful effect on our behavior. Since our behavior is partly determined by how we think about things, changing metaphors can have a powerful effect of changing behavior. Another important fact to remember is that metaphors do their work below the cognitive level - we don't think about the associations, yet we act on those associations."
3. Dan Ward's mind is blown - blog post
"I liken it to watching The Matrix (or, more precisely, actually being in the movie The Matrix and discovering that reality isn't what I thought it was)."
He goes on to ponder what changing a common metaphor, "more is up" to "more is heavy" would do to our thinking:
"I wonder if our society would be less consumeristic if we used the MORE IS HEAVY metaphor instead of MORE IS UP. Certainly, many spiritual traditions (Christianity & Buddhism in particular) talk about wealth and possessions in a MORE IS HEAVY metaphor, in which we are burdened down by an excessive accumulation of stuff."
have altered my thought process, and I feel there is potential to study and apply these theories to enhance our lives in many areas. Lakoff himself has been carrying the water on applying metaphorical thinking to the progressive movement. It is obvious Obama has been using narratives and metaphors quite well in his campaign, as described in an earlier post. I believe these theories can be applied to medicine, human behavior, and human communication.
Recent posts I found on blogs around the world about Metaphors We Live By
1. I found this post on the blog "Labour and Capital"
"Surprising isn't it that we use loads of different expressions based around one metaphor? That leads on to one of the fundamental arguments in the book - that metaphors are not merely linguistic devices, they are conceptual. We don't just use the 'theories are buildings' metaphor to get across our message, we actually think and act in those terms too."
2. Getting things done: applied metaphors - Productive Flourishing Blog
"But the more fundamental point about metaphors is that they have a powerful effect on our behavior. Since our behavior is partly determined by how we think about things, changing metaphors can have a powerful effect of changing behavior. Another important fact to remember is that metaphors do their work below the cognitive level - we don't think about the associations, yet we act on those associations."
3. Dan Ward's mind is blown - blog post
"I liken it to watching The Matrix (or, more precisely, actually being in the movie The Matrix and discovering that reality isn't what I thought it was)."
He goes on to ponder what changing a common metaphor, "more is up" to "more is heavy" would do to our thinking:
"I wonder if our society would be less consumeristic if we used the MORE IS HEAVY metaphor instead of MORE IS UP. Certainly, many spiritual traditions (Christianity & Buddhism in particular) talk about wealth and possessions in a MORE IS HEAVY metaphor, in which we are burdened down by an excessive accumulation of stuff."
A longer list of metaphors is available here. Religious figures use metaphors to help get their point across, see parables.
Clear applications in the medical setting would include:
Clear applications in the medical setting would include:
- Altering Metaphors, relaying new or activating helpful metaphors in depression to bring the patient out of depression.
- Using a metaphor to relay difficult medical language to everyday language (ie. the hearts "plumbing vs electrical" problem to explain CAD vs arrythmia)
- Applying "Life is a journey" to end of life discussions.
- Creating the complex metaphor: "Your hospital stay is a journey" to help patients, staff, students, computer programmers for medical software, hospital administration to be "on the same page" and facilitate good, safe, and cost effective care.
I will flesh out #4 and create a separate post, and perhaps a clearer mindset to share with you all (hopefully) soon.
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Lakoff on Obama
Adapted from an older interview from Buzzflash, the author/linguist George Lakoff describes Obama's fundamental strength.
BuzzFlash: What does this say about his leadership? Given the pressure of the moment, which was enormous -- what does this say about his leadership, that he came through that and delivered this speech in an unflappable Presidential style? ...
George Lakoff: It says something quite remarkable. It says first he can deal with very difficult situations and be unflappable. Second, he can go to the most fundamental issues behind the difficulties to understand that the difficulties are not just superficial things, and they're not just things to get out of the way for now. When there's a difficulty that the country is concerned about -- that is something fundamental -- you have to address not just the immediate difficulty head on, but you have to ask why this is there, and why it is there at a deeper level. Then you address the deeper questions.
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