<![CDATA[Steven Pinker replies to George Lakoff's reply to his George Lakoff’s tendentious theory of everything:
It’s true that I accept Lakoff’s earlier, measured account of the role of metaphor in cognitive psychology, but not his later, and far more grandiose proposals about the nature of mathematics, philosophy, and rationality itself. He is free to argue for his new, “higher rationality,” but I think it is unwise to for the Democrats to base their electoral strategy on one man’s tendentious theory of everything.
I think Lakoff’s explanation of physiological experience as the metaphorical foundation of cognition makes a lot of sense, but I agree with Pinker that Lakoff’s vision for reframing political debate as a cure-all for Democratic woes is far off base.
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