The main thesis of this book is that abstraction, far from being confined to higher forms of cognition, language and logical reasoning, has actually been a major driving force throughout the evolution of creatures with brains. It is manifest in emotive as well as rational thought. Wending its way through the various facets of abstraction, the book attempts to clarify – and relate – the often confusing meanings of the word ‘abstract' that one may encounter even within the same discipline. The unusual synoptic approach, which draws upon research in psychology, neural network theory, child language acquisition, philosophy and consciousness studies, as well as a variety of linguistic disciplines, cannot be compared directly to other books on the market that touch upon just one particular aspect of abstraction. It is aimed at a wide readership – anyone interested in the nature of abstraction and the cognitive processing and purpose behind it. (series A)
Author(s): Michael Fortescue
Series: Advances in Consciousness Research
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 192
City: Amsterdam
Tags: Linguistics;Psycholinguisitics;Abstraction;Cognitive psychology;Cognitive grammar;Semantics;Neurolinguistics;Thought and thinking;Pattern recognition;Cognition;Emotions
The Abstraction Engine......Page 2
Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
LCC data......Page 5
Table of contents......Page 6
1. Introduction......Page 8
2.1 Levels of linguistic abstraction......Page 14
2.2 Some psycholinguistic models......Page 21
2.3 Generative linguistics and abstract theory......Page 23
2.4 Abstract morphology and lexicon......Page 27
2.5 Logograms and ‘abstract’ sign language......Page 32
3.1 Image schemas – abstract or not?......Page 36
3.2 Lexical concepts and conceptual schemas......Page 39
3.3 Compositionality and blending......Page 42
4.1 Metaphor and analogy......Page 46
4.2 Metaphor amongst the Inuit......Page 48
4.3 Metaphor in Athabaskan languages......Page 52
4.4 Cultural frames......Page 55
5.1 Event structures......Page 60
5.2 Mental models......Page 66
5.3 Kinds of memory......Page 73
6.1 Visual abstraction......Page 80
6.2 Thinking with and without words......Page 84
6.3 Dreaming and imagining......Page 88
7.1 Basic emotions......Page 92
7.2 Secondary emotion......Page 95
7.3 Aesthetic abstraction in art and music......Page 96
8.1 Distributed networks and hierarchical structure......Page 102
8.2 The binding problem and neural oscillation......Page 107
8.3 Abstract words in the mental lexicon......Page 109
8.4 Distributed context......Page 111
9.1 The universal and the language-specific in language acquisition......Page 118
9.2 Acquiring language amongst hunter-gatherers......Page 124
9.3 Learning and abstraction......Page 126
10.1 Philosophers on ideas, universals and abstraction......Page 130
10.2 Mathematical and formal semantic abstraction......Page 135
10.3 A Whiteheadian perspective on abstraction......Page 141
10.4 ‘Transmutation’ applied to the mental lexicon......Page 147
10.5 A nudge from Wittgenstein......Page 152
11.1 Structural coupling with the environment......Page 156
11.2 Abstraction and consciousness......Page 160
11.3 Problem-solving and World 3 abstraction......Page 165
11.4 Negative entropy as the ultimate ground of abstraction......Page 171
11.5 Conclusion......Page 174
References......Page 182
Name
index......Page 192
Subject index......Page 196
