scholarly journals Broadening Relevance: The Polemic Property of Concepts in Metaphorical Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (35) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Bouherar ◽  
Ramona Pistol
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Mental Process ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

The lexical pragmatic processes that relevance theory heavily relies on to account for communication are problematic. Broadening and narrowing no longer seem suitable to explain how “conceptual” meanings are modified in the comprehension processes if considering recent developments around the concept definitions and how the mind works. Using theoretical suggestions in psycholinguistics to shed light on the issue raised, the paper makes two main suggestions. Firstly, the account of concepts in relevance theory should be reconsidered to allow for more flexibility. An account of metaphors based on pragmatic adjustment of one of its constituents under the influence of another, as well as contextual assumption, does not seem a viable mental process involved in metaphor comprehension since it should not only allow flexibility of semantic associations but also a reconsideration of concepts as entities and encyclopaedical information as mere conceptual characteristics. Secondly, more cultural awareness and influence should be integrated into the relevance theoretical account of meaning since cultural traits are often considered by speakers in reaching relevance. Moreover, pre-existing conceptual knowledge varies greatly between individuals and thus the comprehension of metaphor should no longer be treated as a static process but rather a highly dynamic one.

Variations of the Mixed Discourse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Jaquet
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

Lastly, on the basis of this definition, the author shows how affects shed light on the body-mind relationship and provide an opportunity to produce a mixed discourse that focuses, by turns, on the mental, physical, or psychophysical aspect of affect. The final chapter has two parts: – An analysis of the three categories of affects: mental, physical, and psychophysical – An examination of the variations of Spinoza’s discourse Some affects, such as satisfaction of the mind, are presented as mental, even though they are correlated with the body. Others, such as pain or pleasure, cheerfulness (hilaritas) or melancholy are mainly rooted in the body, even though the mind forms an idea of them. Still others are psychophysical, such as humility or pride, which are expressed at once as bodily postures and states of mind. These affects thus show us how the mind and body are united, all the while expressing themselves differently and specifically, according to their own modalities.

The Mind in Motion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elleke Boehmer
Keyword(s):  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Poetic Language ◽  
Dynamic Tension ◽  
The Mind

Drawing on insights from relevance theory, the chapter explores how W.B. Yeats’s late poem ‘Long-legged Fly’ creates an exemplary occasion for reflecting first on cognition and then on the ways in which cognition might be made manifest in poetic language; in particular, here, in a dominant simile that repeats as a refrain through the poem. Processing the three stanzas’ different inferential, sensorimotor, and intertextual effects, we as readers at one and the same time contemplate in each case a body in thought, and we contemplate ourselves thinking. The poem in this sense repeatedly performs how a history-changing reflective moment holds a range of creative energies in dynamic tension. Relevance theory’s ‘loose’ sifting of literal and other meanings, in Deirdre Wilson’s words, allows us to become aware of these two processes unfolding at the same time, and in relation to each other, as is demonstrated in this close reading.

Contributory Fault under International Law: A Gateway for Human Rights in ISDS?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farouk El-Hosseny ◽  
Patrick Devine
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Government ◽  
Bear Creek ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract The intersection between foreign investment and human rights is gaining attention, as is evident from an increasing number of investment treaty awards analysing legal issues relating to human rights. In the recent International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration of Bear Creek v Peru, Philippe Sands QC posited, in a dissenting opinion, that the investor’s contribution to events—ie protests against its allegedly adverse environmental impact and disregard of indigenous rights, namely resulting from its ‘inability to obtain a “social licence”’—which led to the unlawful expropriation of its investment, was ‘significant and material’. He further noted that the investor’s ‘responsibilities are no less than those of the government’ and found that damages should thus be reduced. Last year, the Netherlands adopted a new model bilateral investment treaty (BIT), which allows tribunals to ‘take into account non-compliance by the investor with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises’ when assessing damages. These recent developments shed light on how states and tribunals, as part of their decision-making process, can take into account human rights in practice, and crucially in respect of damages analyses. By first dissecting the concept of contributory fault, then shedding light on the intersection of investment treaty law and human rights, as elucidated in recent jurisprudence, this article questions whether there now exists a gateway for human rights obligations (soft or hard) in the investment treaty arbitration realm through the concept of contributory fault.

scholarly journals Evolution in the Brain, Evolution in the Mind: The Hierarchical Brain and the Interface between Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-377
Author(s):  
Leonardo Niro Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Brain Evolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Psychodynamically Oriented ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Shed Light

This article first aims to demonstrate the different ways the work of the English neurologist John Hughlings Jackson influenced Freud. It argues that these can be summarized in six points. It is further argued that the framework proposed by Jackson continued to be pursued by twentieth-century neuroscientists such as Papez, MacLean and Panksepp in terms of tripartite hierarchical evolutionary models. Finally, the account presented here aims to shed light on the analogies encountered by psychodynamically oriented neuroscientists, between contemporary accounts of the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system on the one hand, and Freudian models of the mind on the other. These parallels, I will suggest, are not coincidental. They have a historical underpinning, as both accounts most likely originate from a common source: John Hughlings Jackson's tripartite evolutionary hierarchical view of the brain.

scholarly journals A Role for Emotional Granularity in Judging

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9(5)) ◽  
pp. 557-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gendron ◽  
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Classical View ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Toma De Decisiones ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

Emotions are traditionally viewed as detrimental to judicial responsibility, a belief rooted in the classical view of the mind as a battle ground between reason and emotion. Drawing on recent developments in psychology and neuroscience we propose that the brain uses past experience, organized as concepts, to guide actions and give sensations meaning, constructing experiences such as “fear” or “anger”. Wisdom comes from skill at constructing emotions in a more precise and functional way, a skill called “emotional granularity”. Studies show that individuals who are more emotionally granular have better function across a range of domains, including self regulation and decision making. We propose that effective judicial decision-making does not require a dispassionate judge, but a judge who is high in emotional granularity. We lay out an empirical agenda for testing this idea and end by discussing empirically supported recommendations for increasing emotional granularity in the judiciary. Tradicionalmente, se ha considerado que las emociones son perjudiciales para el desempeño responsable de la labor judicial, una creencia enraizada en la concepción clásica de la mente como campo de batalla entre razón y emoción. Partiendo de nuevos descubrimientos en psicología y neurociencia, argumentamos que el cerebro usa la experiencia pasada, organizada como conceptos, para guiar las acciones y dar sentido a las sensaciones, construyendo experiencias como “miedo” o “ira”. La sabiduría proviene de la habilidad en construir emociones de un modo más preciso y funcional, habilidad denominada “granularidad emocional”. Los estudios muestran que los individuos más granulares emocionalmente funcionan mejor en varios dominios, incluyendo la autorregulación y la toma de decisiones. Argumentamos que la toma de decisiones eficaz en judicatura no requiere de un juez desapasionado, sino de un juez que tenga alta granularidad emocional. Proponemos un programa empírico para poner a prueba esa idea, y concluimos con un debate de recomendaciones de base empírica para aumentar la granularidad emocional en la judicatura.

scholarly journals Modeling the mind: Assessment of if…then… profiles as a window to shared and idiosyncratic psychological processes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Zayas ◽  
Randy T. Lee ◽  
Yuichi Shoda
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Causal Processes ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Personality System

People’s behavior is characterized by stable if…then… profiles, or if in x situation then behavior a, but if in y situation then behavior b. But how do researchers conceptualize and measure if…then… profiles? Drawing from Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) theory, we discuss recent developments in assessing if…then… profiles, and how such profiles can provide a window for elucidating key aspects of the underlying personality system. Specifically, the Highly-Repeated Within-Person (HRWP) approach assesses how a behavior varies as a function of key features in a situation, and operationalizes if…then… profiles as regression betas. We illustrate how the HRWP approach can be applied to data from often-used social cognitive tasks, wherein an individual is exposed to a large number of situations that differ on a dimension that has been experimentally-manipulated by the researcher, and their behaviors to the situations are tracked. The HRWP approach allows researchers to more precisely assess a given individual’s if…then… pattern, make stronger causal inferences about a given individual’s personality system, and empirically investigate, rather than simply assume, if there are meaningful differences between individuals in the causal processes.

Recent developments in metaphor theory

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
Input Hypothesis ◽  
Alternative Theories

Several scholars have proposed alternative views to conceptual metaphor theory (see, for example, Ortony, 1993; Barnden, 2006; Wilson and Carston, 2006, 2008; Vega, 2007; Gibbs, 2008). How are the modified, refined, and alternative theories related to each other and standard conceptual metaphor theory, and which theory provides the best account of the phenomenon of metaphor? The particular approaches I will consider in this paper include the theory of metaphor as categorization, standard conceptual metaphor theory, blending theory, the neural theory of metaphor, conceptual metaphor theory as based on the idea of main meaning focus, and relevance theory. I will present the various theories through the analysis of a single metaphorical sentence: This surgeon is a butcher. I will propose that conceptual metaphor theory as based on the idea of the main meaning focus gives us a good way of characterizing the emergence of the sentence’s meaning. This characterization consists of a four-stage process. First, there exist two independent conceptual categories: BUTCHERY and SURGERY. Second, due to the similarity between the two, a metaphorical relationship is established between them. Third, the property of incompetence emerges in the concept of BUTCHERY in light of and against the background of the concept of SURGERY. Fourth, this property is projected into the blend, in which the property will now characterize the surgeon. I will point out that this approach is compatible with several other views, such as Ruiz de Mendoza’s Combined Input Hypothesis and with aspects of relevance theory.

scholarly journals James Joyce and the Epiphanic Inscription: Towards an Art of Gesture as Rhythm

Humanities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Alberto Tondello
Keyword(s):  
James Joyce ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

In Agency and Embodiment, Carrie Noland describes gesture as “a type of inscription, a parsing of the body into signifying and operational units”, considering it as a means to read and decode the human body. Through an analysis of James Joyce’s collection of Epiphanies, my paper will examine how gesture, as a mode of expression of the body, can be transcribed on the written page. Written and collected to record a “spiritual manifestation” shining through “in the vulgarity of speech or gesture, or in a memorable phase of the mind itself”, Joyce’s Epiphanies can be considered as the first step in his sustained attempt to develop an art of gesture-as-rhythm. These short pieces appear as the site in which the author seeks, through the medium of writing, to negotiate and redefine the boundaries of the physical human body. Moving towards a mapping of body and mind through the concept of rhythm, and pointing to a collaboration and mutual influence between interiority and exteriority, the Epiphanies open up a space for the reformulation of the relationship between the human body and its environment. Unpacking the ideas that sit at the heart of the concept of epiphany, the paper will shed light on how this particular mode of writing produces a rhythmic art of gesture, fixing and simultaneously liberating human and nonhuman bodies on the written page.

Pragmática y simbolización

Revue Romane ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Carlos Frühbeck Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Second Generation ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Bag Model ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Communicative Context ◽  
Language Mastery

Abstract Firstly, this paper aims to provide new theoretical insights in the study of literary symbolism with the support of Relevance Theory, Lexical Pragmatics and some contributions of second-generation cognitive sciences. Specifically, it proposes that the meaning of literary symbol consists on the tension between a “literal” meaning and a not paraphrasable abstract meaning. Furthermore, literary symbol needs of a specific communicative context: the “symbolic reading”, whose features are defined. In order to analyze the meaning of literary symbol a perspective close to contextualism has been taken. So, we consider that meanings are underdeterminated and context is always needed to obtain them. The tension between the literal and the abstract meaning is explained with the aid of Rayo´s grab bag model of language mastery and Relevance Theory accounts of metaphor comprehension. Lastly, this framework is applied to the analysis of Juan Eduardo Cirlot’s works, with special attention to his permutation poetry.

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