Introduction Revised

Now that I am in my second semester of writing my honors thesis, I have gone back to the very beginning, and have written my introduction. This has made me really focus on how I plan on bring my whole work together. When writing a paper that is 80+ pages, it is easy to get swept away from the real core of the paper. By writing my introduction at this time, I am now able to see which parts of my thesis need the most work. So, here is how my overall thesis will play out. Keep in mind this is a rough draft:

Introduction

The traditional theory of metaphor, which has persisted for twenty-five hundred years in the philosophical and literary tradition, treats metaphor as irrelevant to fundamental questions about the nature of the world and knowledge of it, but these traditional views must be challenged. Today, we live in a society with a great sense of social organization, and we continually communicate abstractly through the use of facial expressions and bodily gestures, as well as through the use of tropes, non-literal verbal extensions, specifically metaphor. Metaphors are unavoidable because they are built right into our language. In fact, they may be humanity’s primary mode of mental operation.

This paper is broken into three main sections, each of which works through various philosophical theories to try and answer the question of why metaphors are cognitively important. The first section addresses human and language evolution, and explores possible theories of explanation for why humans have abstract language. When thinking about human communication it is easy to understand why the first humans would have developed a word for “water,” or “poison.” This terminology was necessary in order for human ancestors to fulfill basic needs and keep out of harm’s way. However, language development did not end here. This same system of symbols continued to evolve, and gave rise to a higher level of communication that articulates abstract and intangible thoughts and ideas. The big questions seeking an answer in this section are, “why did human communication not stop at the basic level?” and “what was the language system trying to keep up with?”

It is argued that this cognitive shift occurred when humans began to develop a wider and deeper array of needs, and evolvement from less biological to more psychological needs. Social interaction is the pressure that selected for language, and when our ancestors began to learn language, symbols were also created. These symbols set the whole process of language evolution in motion, and today, children automatically acquire a mastery of these abstract thinking skills. This paper supports the argument that children become linguistically and culturally competent members of their community through interactions with their caregivers and other members of their community. This shows that language is proven necessary to consciously perceive and understand how every single human experience plays a crucial role in defining one’s reality.

The second part of this paper emphasizes the conclusion drawn in the first section, that metaphor is the foundation of our conceptual system. While we may lack an adequate account of metaphorical thought, there is a lot to be learned from this abstract way of thinking. Metaphors are not merely stylistic, but are also cognitively important. Metaphors are pervasive in everyday life – not just in language, but in thought and action. Conceptual metaphors allow for us to understand and experience one thing in terms of another. A commonly seen conceptual metaphor is “argument is war”. This metaphor shapes our language in the way we view argument as a battle to be won. In debates, teams “attack” the weak points of their opponents’ arguments, and in the end one team “wins” and the other “loses”. These metaphors are not only prevalent in our language, but we perceive and act in accordance with them.

Our human and language evolution has given rise to a language system that allows for humans to communicate about non-empirical concepts. Because of the close-knit relationship between metaphors and human cognition, people have the ability to communicate about abstract and intangible experiences. Metaphors facilitate the understanding of one conceptual domain, typically an abstract one, through expressions that relate to another, more familiar conceptual domain. For example, think of theories as buildings: we build a foundation for them, a framework, support them with strong arguments, hoping they will stand.

After gaining a higher understanding of how metaphors are important for the improvement of understanding at two ends – increasing our own knowledge and enabling us to deliver that knowledge to others – the paper moves into its third section. Here, the philosophy of education is introduced and theories about curriculum and the process of learning are explored. Metaphors as cognitive tools become powerful and important when looking at how they can shape and transform the classroom setting. When fitting, metaphor can successfully render the unfamiliar more familiar by helping to build ideas into structured wholes. It is in this sense that metaphor brings about learning. First, it is important for educators to ask themselves, “What is education?” For example, is it centered on growth or production? The best metaphor to use when thinking about education is “education is growth”, because this metaphor fosters the individuality and creativity of students. This is in contrast with “education is production”, which views students as mere objects being sent down an assembly line. This model results in educators playing a more passive role in students’ education. Teachers follow a structured curriculum and implement material that has already been set for the students to learn, rather than actively working to enhance their own curriculum, which could more effectively meet the individual needs of students.

The paper then moves to explain how once educators have an understanding of the best way to view the education system, they can then strategize how to use metaphors in their teaching and learning environments. The usage of metaphor in the classroom can be a powerful pedagogical approach, specifically because metaphors help shape behavior. Curriculums which support and encourage the usage of metaphors have been shown to enhance student learning through the increased retention of material by assisting with the understanding of complex ideas and topics. Metaphor allows for the teacher to convey a potentially unfamiliar concept by relating it to a concept all students are familiar with. This usage of metaphors as teaching tools allows students to recognize patterns and draw connections between ideas. When students are able to more easily comprehend the subject matter at hand, they can then pursue further interest and investigation of the subject matter. Through the use of metaphors in the classroom, students of all socioeconomic backgrounds can succeed and grow as individuals. Most students can better explain and understand themselves and those around them. Students can gain strategies for how to better reason, create, and explore in their surroundings. They can then perceive, interpret, and enhance their understanding of the unfamiliar.

Today, it is important to think about future outcomes. Our society remains faced with challenges that need addressing. The achievement gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” continues to grow across our country, and this deficit is attributed to the issue of the “literacy gap”. Research studies indicate that an estimated 32 million adults in the United States – about one in seven – have such low literacy skills that it is tough for them to read and comprehend anything more challenging than a children’s picture book. The big question for educators and others interested in curriculum development is, “What can we do?”  Something needs to be done to reach out to minority, low-income, and ESL learners to bridge the gap and bring about feelings of universality in the classroom. If educators and policy makers do not act, history will only repeat itself; adults who lack adequate literacy skills are likely to be unemployed or earning only a subsistent wage. This leaves these adults unable to help their children prepare for school and support their learning at home.

Poverty does not cause illiteracy, but rather illiteracy causes poverty. This paper suggests that the gap can be bridged through the use of metaphors in the classroom. Metaphors allow for people to communicate feelings and experiences in a way that cannot be expressed in literal terms. By providing equal opportunity in education to all children, the next generation is sure to be empowered with the necessary skills for success in today’s advancing society. Metaphor is relevant to every aspect of the human condition, and therefore should be regarded as valuable in society.  With a handle on these facts, educators and policy makers can understand the struggles of our current time, and work towards building a stronger society, one child at a time.

Chapter 11: Teaching with Paradigms

Favorite Place on Campus to Study

 Before diving into discussion on how educators can use paradigms to help students comprehend course material more easily and readily, it helps to first define what exactly a paradigm is. A paradigm is something that serves as a model. When someone uses a paradigm, it shifts one’s way of thinking to another. For example, we can think about the paradigm-shift moving scientific theory from the Ptolemaic system (the idea that the earth is at the center of the universe) to the Copernican system (the idea that the sun is at the center of the universe), and the move from Newtonian physics to Relativity and Quantum Physics. As old beliefs became replaced by new paradigms, there was a change in the world view.  For millions of years, the world has been continually evolving, and there is no sign of this stopping.

While humans often try to resist difficult and inevitable change, there are ways in which society can learn through experience. Kuhn states that “awareness is prerequisite to all acceptable changes of theory.”[1] In order to keep up in society, we must change our mental perspectives and allow our consciousness to transform and transcend. We must become awakened as our consciousness grows more aware of inevitable change. The human mind is not something that is entirely restricted; it too can change as things in society change. It is for this reason that paradigms become an important concept to understand and embrace in teaching.

In the educational institution, teaching children how to construct paradigms allows for them to expand their understanding of certain everyday world issues. It is possible for educators to shape children’s behavior by having children role play to model good behavior. This idea relates to the traditional behavioral paradigm psychologist John Watson established, known as conditioning. Learning is believed to occur through a process of conditioning in the exercise of repetition, which leads to memorization. Based on the assumption that learning is a function of conditioning, it is believed to be possible to shape human behavior to any desired form. It is this assumption that leads educators to place aim on the mechanics of learning and learning strategies such as competition, fragmentation of content, learning for content, cultural uniformity, technologies of learning, behavioral outcomes, and so on.[2]  

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[1] Kuhn, Thomas, S., “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, Second Edition, Enlarged, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970(1962) Further reference to this source in parentheses (Kuhn, p#).

[2] http://www.holisticeducator.com/behavioralparadigm.htm

Chapter 6: A Symbolic Language: A Look at How Tropes Influence Human Communication

The Search for Peace

 

Symbols carry a life-enhancing ability, and when one is tuned in to what these symbols have to offer, the symbol becomes “pregnant with meaning” and shapes one’s reality

~ Anthony Stevens, Ariadne’s Clue: a Guide to the Symbols of Humankind

 

Non-Verbal Communication

The communicative function is a powerful one. It is not a simple, one layered, linear process. Humans in addition to communicating at the literal level, have the ability to transmit signals by means other than spoken or written words. They achieve this non-verbal communication through the use of facial expressions and bodily gestures, as well as through non-literal verbal extensions with a logical component, called tropes. [1] Human beings appear to unconsciously use these non-literal methods of communication. In many instances, it appears evident that the body communicates more strongly than the mind, without the mind even being aware of the body’s innate power over reason. Human societies need this form of communication in order to represent the ways things in the world are; communication in the non-literal sense is a process of rendering the unfamiliar more familiar.

There are various forms of non-verbal communication Some forms include: paralanguage, which refers to sounds that sometimes do not have a written form (e.g. uh-huh means Yes, or I am listening); kinesics, or body language (e.g. eye contact); proxemics, which refers to how humans organize space (e.g. the intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering); haptics, which refers to the sense of touch (e.g. in Spain, people greet each other with two kisses on the cheek); chronemics, which refers to time (e.g. when in a relationship to say, I love you); and artifacts, or communication with objects (e.g. jewelry, bumper stickers, food, etc.) (Salzmann, insert page#).

Kinesics:

To begin to understand this non-literal sense of communication it helps to first analyze the role kinesics plays in human societies. This powerful form of communication involves body language, and the way this is used to portray moods and emotions. “Ritualized gestures – the bow, the shrug, the smile, the wink, the military salute, the pointed finger, the thumbed nose, sticking out the tongue, and so on – are not really nonverbal communication, because such gestures are just a substitute for the verbal meanings that are associated with them.”[2] However, there are many spontaneous gestures and actions that are unconscious, and communicate a great deal; sometimes what a person is saying unconsciously by his actions directly contradicts what he is saying consciously with his words (Clark, 57). The best way to understand how this form of non-verbal communication works is to think about how body language is interpreted when one goes into an interview. There are various types of body movement one can conduct, which can portray a person as confident or insecure, enthusiastic or lazy. For example, something as simple as a handshake with an interviewer says a lot. A good firm hand shake is associated with an open-minded, less neurotic and shy personality in comparison to a weak handshake.[3] Words prove to not be the only way to effectively communicate; body movement has interpretative meaning as well.

Tropes:

Now, looking beyond body language, it is important to also look at the use of tropes in human societies. Tropes include: metaphor, a literary figure of speech that uses and image, story or tangible object to represent a less tangible object or some intangible quality or idea (e.g. Life as journey: some of us travel hopefully, others seem to have no direction, many lose their way); simile, a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, using the words like or as (e.g. life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get); metonym, a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept (e.g. the white house stands for the president); synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing (e.g. executives being referred to as suits), myth, a traditional or legendary story; and metamorphosis (abrupt change in an animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation).

Metaphor:

For the purpose of this paper, metaphor will be the main focus. While the other types of tropes play important roles in human communication, metaphors can be viewed as people’s primary mode of mental operation. This is because of the major role metaphor plays in human reason. “Reason is not disembodied, as the tradition has largely held, but arises from the nature of our brains, bodies, and bodily experience” and this reason is “not purely literal, but largely metaphorical and imaginative.”[4]  In the following chapters one will learn about the important role metaphor plays in shaping our understanding of every day experiences.  In order to demonstrate this importance, there will be a specific focus on conceptual metaphors. Conceptual metaphor, which refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another (e.g. understanding quantity in terms of directionality – “prices are rising”).[5] These metaphors not only shape human communication, but shape the way humans think and act. It is through these metaphors that we can talk about our every day experiences.

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[1]  Salzmann, Zdenek. Language, Culture, & [and] Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview, 1993. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Salzmann, p.#).

[2] Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. New York: St. Martin’s, 1977. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Clark, p.#).

[3] LiveScience Staff. “Firm Handshakes Help Land Jobs.” Live Science. LiveScience.com, 6 May 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/7487-firm-handshakes-land-jobs.html&gt;. Further reference to this source in parentheses (LiveScience).

[4] Lakoff and Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh. (4).

[5] “Conceptual Metaphor.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor&gt;. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Conceptual Metaphor).