The mind and ‘metaphor’
When we see a puffy white cloud in the sky as as elephant, we’re actually conveying a wide range of ideas with a small number of words. It’s the brain at work in a very specific way.
“We are definitely capable of rational, logical thought,” says Assistant Professor of Philosophy Elisabeth Camp, who is also an affiliated faculty member at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. “I also think most people much of the time ... are engaged in thought that’s much more intuitive [and] holistic-based.”
Which is where metaphor comes in.
As an example of what Camp has termed “aspectual thought,” metaphors, like stereotypes, collect a bunch of ideas together in a simple turn of phrase. But unlike stereotypes, which are powerful because they have almost universally understood parameters, metaphors rely heavily on context and allow us to use our understanding of how we think about one thing—such as an elephant—to inform how we think about something else. “We can make just-for-the-occasion stereotypes,” says Camp.
etaphor also relies on an assumption that the speaker and listener will understand each other. If not, they run the risk of miscommunication.
Camp also studies empirical data on the subject, particularly on how autistic individuals have an impaired understanding of metaphor and sarcasm. “I’m trying to take these empirical findings,” she says, “and try to think about the ramifications as applied to traditional philosophical questions.”
Meanwhile, Camp is also keenly interested in the work of Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth, two Penn professors who have done extensive field research focused on baboons and other primates.
While she’s not yet drawn conclusions from their research, Camp says her look at animals has helped inform her work on the human brain. “Things all look one way if you just think about brain structures in humans,” she says. By studying baboons, as well as human brains with lesions and other defects, “we get insight into what goes on in normal cases.”
Originally published March 27, 2008
