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Quote by George Lakoff

Work

Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought

This book delves into the concept of the embodied mind, examining how our physical experiences shape our philosophical understanding and challenge traditional Western thought. more

Author

George Lakoff
George Lakoff

George Lakoff, born on May 24, 1941, is an American cognitive linguist. His research focuses on the relationship between language and thought, and he has made significant contributions to the field of linguistics with his theories on cognitive linguistics. more

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“There is in human nature a distinct drive to know, a distinguishable theoretical impulse or urge to understand. It is at work at every level of cognition, from the simplest impersonal judgment, like ‘it is hot’, to the most comprehensive mathematical or metaphysical system. But like other fundamental drives, the moral, for example, and the aesthetic, what it is seeking - what will ultimately satisfy it - is far from apparent at its lower levels and is defined only gradually in the course of a long advance. But that advance is not simply a matter of blind trial and error. Its direction is set by its end, which works as an immanent ideal within the process of thought. The pressure exerted by this ideal increases as intelligence rises in the scale. … As thought matures and realizes in fuller measure the end it is seeking, that end lays its movement under increasingly firm constraint. … The higher our altitude on the long ascent of intelligence, the better is our position to discern what lies at the summit. To be sure we never see this clearly. In no human activity do we ever fully know what we are about. We are aware of the end, or we could do nothing but wander aimlessly. We never see it clearly, so we are condemned to much groping.”

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Book:Reason & Analysis
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