Layering theory and human abstract thinking

Author: Danesi M.

Source: Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Volume 8, Number 3, 2001 , pp. 5-24(20)

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Abstract:

A central issue in cybernetic research is how information becomes knowledge in human thought. Abstractions are really no more than information units connected together in some meaning-bearing way. The study of how metaphorical reasoning undergirds large portions of abstract concept-formation has been relegated mainly to the field of conceptual metaphor theory, as it is now called, during the past two decades. This paper introduces the notion of layering in order to take conceptual metaphor theory one step further, in view of making it relevant to cybernetics. The notion of layering theory is offered, thus, as a target for discussion within cybernetics.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Program in semiotics and communication, Victoria College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1K7, Canada. Email:Marcel.danesi@toronto.ca

Publication date: 2001-01-01