The Neural Theory of Metaphor

Lakoff, George

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1437794

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The Neural Theory of Metaphor

33 Pages Posted: 23 Jul 2009

See all articles by George Lakoff

George Lakoff

University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Berkeley - Department of Cognitive Science

Date Written: January 2, 2009

Abstract

The neural revolution is changing our understanding of the brain and the mind in radical ways, and that is no less true in the theory of metaphor. It is 30 years since Mark Johnson and I wrote Metaphors We Live By in 1979. Though the fundamental outlines of what we discovered remain as valid today as they were then, developments in brain science and neural computation have vastly enriched our understanding of how conceptual metaphor works. This is an intermediate report, as of January 2009.

Keywords: Metaphor, Neural, Cognitive Linguistics, Brain

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Lakoff, George, The Neural Theory of Metaphor (January 2, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1437794 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1437794