Emerging Metaphors for the Human Body Metaphors are the cognitive tools through which we understand ourselves and the world (Lakoff and Turner 1989: xi). One of the primary metaphoric resources is the human body. Probably, since we first became self-aware, we have been fascinated with our bodies: psychologically and culturally. “Man is the measure […]
Tag Archives: social
August
15
Why are we no longer in love with our Cities?
posted by Culture Decanted
Why are we no longer in love with our cities? We personify cities, give them human characteristics.
We create our identity from where we live. Are we projecting something, of how we see ourselves, onto our cities?
July
31
The Psychology of the Maze as a Modern Symbol
posted by Culture Decanted
Why are we still a-maze-d by labyrinths? With a diverse range of permutations, the Maze is a symbol that has been with humanity since the pre-historic era. So pervasive is the labyrinth within human symbolic communication, it is impossible to think of a human era where it was not a deep structural metaphor […]
July
14
The Semiotics of the Doppelgänger: the Double in Popular Culture
posted by Culture Decanted
The Semiotics of the Doppelgänger: the Double in Popular Culture One of the themes from the last blog I wrote on ‘evil’, was the nature of how this is depicted in popular culture from a semiotic perspective. This started out with a Kantian perspective, that evil is something that all of us have the […]
June
21
How are our brains changing in the Modern Era?
posted by Culture Decanted
Our brains are changing size and we are getting stupider? It’s enough to give you a brain-ache. Do any search on the human brain today and there is a lot of contradictory information about what we know about it. Some believe it’s getting larger, others that it’s shrinking. We’re getting more intelligent or getting […]
June
16
ARE ROBOTS TAKING OVER THE WORLD?
posted by Culture Decanted
ARE ROBOTS TAKING OVER THE WORLD? “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein In my last post, I was exploring why we are scared of the future, a fact that emerged is that there is no one word or phobia to cover ‘fear of […]
June
13
Opening a Window to the Future [Part 2]
posted by Culture Decanted
Why are we so negative about the future?: Future Part 2 “The future is like a dead wall or a thick mist hiding all objects from our view’ William Hazlitt, 1822 Cultural Metaphors of the Future One of the manifestations of the authenticity trend in society today is the cherry-picking what parts of […]
June
11
Why are we so scared of tomorrow? [Part 1]
posted by Culture Decanted
Why are we so scared of tomorrow? To paraphrase the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, ‘humankind has never had it so good’. Well it’s probably more accurate to say that in many ways our collective-cultures have never been so advanced, with the potential of helping so many. So why do we find western culture […]
June
07
What is a real carrot?
posted by Culture Decanted
What is a real carrot? About a week ago, I was speaking to a mum and the topic of shopping in supermarkets came up. It was a wide-ranging conversation and the benefits and concerns she expressed about shopping were similar to what other mums have talked about. In summary, supermarkets are convenient, good value and […]
June
01
The Hipster Beard [ Beards: Part 1]
posted by Culture Decanted
‘Trust the man who hesitates in his speech and is quick and steady in action, but beware of long arguments and long beards’. George Santayana Beards are very topical at the moment, with the rise in popularity of the Hipster Beard. It’s probably worth attempting to explain what Hipsters are, although they may have […]
May
29
I see my name in my soup [names: part 4]
posted by Culture Decanted
“I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden Is everything about me? From antiquity, there was power of knowing the names of things and naming the world. The way we use names and identity are changing in society, […]
May
27
Names that shape us [names: part 3]
posted by Culture Decanted
People’s fates are simplified by their names. Elias Canetti The preceding discussion, I was looking at the mythical and historical power in naming things. There is another aspect to this discussion is the power our names have over our actions: consciously and subconsciously. “…(there is) the sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man’s name […]
May
27
The Signature Resigned [Names: part 2]
posted by Culture Decanted
Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable. W. H. Auden It is easier than ever to have multiple identities online; allowing us to be the virtual persona we might wish we could be. At a time when individualism is a driving force in western society, it’s ironic that so […]
May
24
A RED HERRING [ SEEING RED: PART 4 ]
posted by Culture Decanted
“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, […]
May
23
BEING IN THE RED [ SEEING RED: PART 3]
posted by Culture Decanted
“The effect of this colour is as peculiar as its nature. It conveys an impression of gravity and dignity, and at the same time of grace and attractiveness”. -J.W Goethe An evolutionary perspective alone doesn’t shed light on why we see red used in so many different contexts. As discussed previously, our attraction to […]
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