George Lakoff Women,Fire,and Dangerous Things What Categories Reveal about the Mind The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
George Lakoff Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things What Categories Reveal about the Mind ~~ The University of Chicago Press \.'I;~ Chicago and London
Contents Acknowledgments Preface i Book I:The Mind beyond the Machine Part I:Categories and Cognitive Models 1 The Importance of Categorization 5 2 From Wittgenstein to Rosch 12 3 Prototype Effects in Language. 58 4 Idealized Cognitive Models 68 5 Metonymic Models 77 6 Radial Categories 91 7 Features,Stereotypes,and Defaults 115 8 More about Cognitive Models 118 9 Defenders of the Classical View 136 10 Review 153 Part II:Philosophical Implications 11 The Objectivist Paradigm 157 12 What's Wrong with Objectivist Metaphysics 185 13 What's Wrong with Objectivist Cognition 196 14 The Formalist Enterprise 219 15 Putnam's Theorem 229 16 A New Realism 260 17 Cognitive Semantics 269 18 Whorf and Relativism 304 vi
Acknowledgments Preface Contents IX Xl Book I: The Mind beyond the Machine Part I: Categories and Cognitive Models 1 The Importance of Categorization 2 From Wittg~nstein to Rosch 3 Prototype Effects in Language . 4 Idealized Cognitive Models 5 Metonymic Models 6 Radial Categories 7 Features, Stereotypes, and Defaults 8 More about Cognitive Models 9 Defenders of the Classical View 10 Review Part II: Philosophical Implications 11 The Objectivist Paradigm 12 What's Wrong with Objectivist Metaphysics 13 What's Wrong with Objectivist Cognition 14 The Formalist Enterprise 15 Putnam's Theorem 16 A New Realism 17 Cognitive Semantics 18 Whorf and Relativism 5 12 58 68 77 91 115 118 136 153 157 185 196 219 229 260 269 304 VlJ
viii Contents 19 The Mind-As-Machine Paradigm 338 20 Mathematics as a Cognitive Activity 353 21 Overview 370 Book II:Case Studies Introduction 377 1 Anger 380 2 Over 416 3 There-Constructions 462 Afterword 586 References 589 Name Index 601 Subject Index 605
VIlI Contents 19 The Mind-As-Machine Paradigm 20 Mathematics as a Cognitive Activity 21 Overview Introduction 1 Anger 2 Over 3 There-Constructions Afterword References Name Index Subject Index 338 353 370 Book II: Case Studies 377 380 416 462 586 589 601 605
Acknowledgments This book is very much a product of the incredibly stimulating and open intellectual environment of the University of California at Berkeley, where I have been privileged to work for the past thirteen years.I could not have done this work anywhere else.Much of what I have learned dur- ing this period has come through interactions with remarkable col- leagues,especially Brent Berlin,Hubert Dreyfus,Charles Fillmore,Jim Greeno,Paul Kay,Eleanor Rosch,Dan Slobin,Eve Sweetser,Len Talmy,Robert Wilensky,and Lotfi Zadeh.I have also been blessed with remarkable students,especially Claudia Brugman,Pamela Downing, Michele Emanatian,Rob MacLaury,Chad McDaniel,and Jeanne van Oosten,and much of this book reflects what I have learned from them. Case study 2 is an extension and elaboration of part of Brugman's 1981 master's thesis.Case study 1 was done jointly with Zoltan Kovecses, whose stay at Berkeley during the 1982-83 academic year was funded by the American Council of Learned Societies.Without their insight,their diligence,and their generosity,this book would be much the poorer. I have also been fortunate to be part of a widespread network of cogni- tive scientists whose research complements my own and who have been unsparingly generous in keeping me informed of their research and in commenting on mine: Alton L.Becker,at the University of Michigan Dwight Bolinger,emeritus from Harvard,now living in Palo Alto Gilles Fauconnier,of the University of Paris at St.Denis Dedre Gentner,at the University of Illinois at Urbana Mark Johnson,at Southern Illinois University Zoltan Kovecses,at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest Ronald Langacker,at the University of California at San Diego Susan Lindner,in Palo Alto James D.McCawley,at the University of Chicago iⅸ
Acknowledgments This book is very much a product of the incredibly stimulating and open intellectual environment of the University of California at Berkeley, where I have been privileged to work for the past thirteen years. I could not have done this work anywhere else. Much of what I have learned during this period has come through interactions with remarkable colleagues, especially Brent Berlin, Hubert Dreyfus, Charles Fillmore, Jim Greeno, Paul Kay, Eleanor Rosch, Dan Slobin, Eve Sweetser, Len Talmy, Robert Wilensky, and Lotti Zadeh. I have also been blessed with remarkable students, especially Claudia Brugman, Pamela Downing, Michele Emanatian, Rob MacLaury, Chad McDaniel, and Jeanne van Oosten, and much of this book reflects what I have learned from them. Case study 2 is an extension and elaboration of part of Brugman's 1981 master's thesis. Case study 1 was done jointly with Zoltan K6vecses, whose stay at Berkeley during the 1982-83 academic year was funded by the American Council of Learned Societies. Without their insight, their diligence, and their gener<?sity, this book would be much the poorer. I have also been fortunate to be part of a widespread network of cognitive scientists whose research complements my own and who have been unsparingly generous in keeping me informed of their research and in commenting on mine: Alton L. Becker, at the University of Michigan Dwight Bolinger, emeritus from Harvard, now living in Palo Alto Gilles Fauconnier, of the University of Paris at St. Denis Dedre Gentner, at the University of Illinois at Urbana Mark Johnson, at Southern Illinois University Zoltan K6vecses, at Eotvos L6rand University in Budapest Ronald Langacker, at the University of California at San Diego Susan Lindner, in Palo Alto James D. McCawley, at the University of Chicago IX
X Acknowledgments David McNeill,at the University of Chicago Hilary Putnam,at Harvard University Naomi Quinn,at Duke University John Robert Ross,at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology David Zubin,at the State University of New York at Buffalo I would also like to thank R.M.W.Dixon and Annette Schmidt of the Australian National University for providing me with a lengthy discussion of their research on Dyirbal categorization,as well as Pamela Downing and Haruo Aoki,who provided me with details about Japanese classi- fiers.Mark Johnson and Hilary Putnam have been extremely helpful in discussing philosophical issues,especially their recent work.The philo- sophical views put forth here have been worked out in collaboration with Johnson over many years.Robert Solovay and Saunders Mac Lane pro- vided enormously useful discussions of the foundations of mathematics Extensive comments on drafts of the manuscript have been provided by Jay Atlas,Lawrence Barsalou,Claudia Brugman,Michele Emanatian, Charles Fillmore,Jim Greeno,Mark Johnson,Paul Kay,Zoltan Kovecses,Robert McCauley,James D.McCawley,Carolyn Mervis. Ulric Neisser,Eleanor Rosch,Edward Smith,Robert Wilensky. Sustenance of extraordinary quality was provided by Cafe Fanny in Berkeley. This research would not have been possible without grants from the National Science Foundation(grant no.BNS-8310445),the Sloan Foun- dation,and the Committee on Research of the University of California at Berkeley.I would especially like to thank Paul Chapin at NSF and Eric Wanner at Sloan. Large projects like this cannot be completed without enormous sacrifices on the home front.Claudia Brugman and Andy Lakoff have put up with my unavailability for longer than I would like to think.I thank them for their patience and perseverance with all my heart. Berkeley,California July,1985
x Acknowledgments David McNeill, at the University of Chicago Hilary Putnam, at Harvard University Naomi Quinn, at Duke University John Robert Ross, at the Massachusetts Institute of Techn'ology David Zubin, at the State University of New York at Buffalo I would also like to thank R. M. W. Dixon and Annette Schmidt of the Australian National University for providing me with a lengthy discussion of their research on Dyirbal categorization, as well as Pamela Downing and Haruo Aoki, who provided me with details about Japanese classifiers. Mark Johnson and Hilary Putnam have been extremely helpful in discussing philosophical issues, especially their recent work. The philosophical views put forth here have been worked out in collaboration with Johnson over many years. Robert Solovay and Saunders Mac Lane provided enormously useful discussions of the foundations of mathematics. Extensive comments on drafts of the manuscript have been provided by Jay Atlas, Lawrence Barsalou, Claudia Brugman, Michele Emanatian, Charles Fillmore, Jim Greeno, Mark Johnson, Paul Kay, Zoltan Kbvecses, Robert McCauley, James D. McCawley, Carolyn Mervis, Ulric Neisser, Eleanor Rosch, Edward Smith, Robert Wilensky. Sustenance of extraordinary quality was provided by Cafe Fanny in Berkeley. This research would not have been possible without grants from the National Science Foundation (grant no. BNS-8310445), the Sloan Foundation, and the Committee on Research of the University of California at Berkeley. I would especially like to thank Paul Chapin at NSF and Eric Wanner at Sloan. Large projects like this cannot be completed without enormous sacrifices on the home front. Claudia Brugman and Andy Lakoff have put up with my unavailability for longer than I would like to think. I thank them for their patience and perseverance with all my heart. Berkeley, California July, 1985