Philosophical Thought
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Volume 4, Issue 1 (2024)
Geo Res 2024, 4(1): 17-32 |
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History
Received: 2023/09/26 | Accepted: 2024/04/3 | Published: 2024/06/4
Received: 2023/09/26 | Accepted: 2024/04/3 | Published: 2024/06/4
How to cite this article
Karon Beirag H. Explaining the Metaphors of the Mind and Infer Its Implications for Education. Geo Res 2024; 4 (1) :17-32
URL: http://jpt.modares.ac.ir/article-6-71731-en.html
URL: http://jpt.modares.ac.ir/article-6-71731-en.html
Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Sciences, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
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Introduction
The opposition of mind and object has existed in philosophy for a long time. The question that naturally arises here is what the mind is and what its nature is. In the philosophy of mind, the concept of consciousness is related to the meaning that is considered in this article (the power of cognition). Considering the problems that arise regarding consciousness or the mind, man is forced to appeal to metaphor because the visualization of abstract concepts is one of its cognitive functions. Throughout the history of philosophy, many metaphors for the mind have been used to facilitate thinking about it, especially when teaching it to beginners. What is intended in this article is the mind, which means the power of cognition in the process of teaching and learning. As experts have said, almost all curriculum elements, including teaching and learning, are based on a philosophy. Undoubtedly, the assumptions that exist about human nature are effective in the type of curriculum, teaching method, and school atmosphere; therefore, every educational theory, in general, and every learning theory, in particular, is based on the perspective of the educator and theoretician about the mind. The word mind is used frequently in educational texts, so explaining the metaphors of the mind helps us better understand the meaning of the authors and theoreticians who use it.
Definition of metaphor
From a traditional point of view, metaphor is the use of a word with a meaning other than its true meaning, based on a similarity between the real and figurative meanings, and the presumption that prevents it from being limited to its original meaning. Metaphor and simile are essentially the same, but a metaphor is a compact simile; that is, we summarize and compress the simile so much that only the tenor or vehicle remains. The difference between them is that a simile claims similarity and a metaphor claims sameness.
What passed was the traditional meaning of metaphor. According to what is known, the traditional point of view considers metaphor as merely a figure of speech. But Lakoff and Johnson believe that the essence of metaphor is the understanding and experience of something based on something else, so metaphors are not only rhetorical matters, and we do not use them only for literary purposes, but we live with them, and our intellectual system is also based on them.
Metaphors of the mind
In what follows, we will explain the metaphors used to describe the mind.
Written tablet metaphor
Plato believed that the human soul has learned all the truths in the ideal world before coming to this world and forgets them when it comes to this world. Therefore, his view of the human mind can be likened to a tablet. This metaphor believes in the theory of recall and not learning.
Metaphor of the statue
Condillac assumes a statue that is completely human-like but devoid of any information, with its senses completely blocked. Then he gives this statue the opportunity to use its sense of smell and shows how this sense leads to the formation of all human sensual life. Leibniz rejects this metaphor. The statue metaphor is opposed to the metaphor of the written tablet and views education as merely a product of learning and experience, a view that faces serious criticism.
Prone Earth metaphor
The most famous metaphors used in education are: factory, gardening, and travel. Usually, a teacher is compared to a gardener, and an educator is compared to a flower. Imam Ali has likened the heart of a teenager to an empty land that accepts whatever is thrown into it. The term Prone Earth is derived from this idea. In the gardening metaphor, unlike the factory metaphor, differences play an important role. This metaphor suggests that the teacher's (the gardener's) role is to nurture the learner (the seed), not to change the learner's natural characteristics. The gardener can only facilitate the growing conditions.
Mirror metaphor
According to the old books of logic, the mind is like a mirror in which the images of objects are reflected. Richard Rorty believes that the mind in the 17th century is like a big mirror that reflects the world in itself through its internal representations and images.
Eye metaphor
According to Rorty, the modern concept of the mind as a mirror of nature is Descartes's invention. According to Descartes, the mind is like an inner eye; its function is to subtlety the representations and images superimposed on it.
Glasses metaphor
Before Kant, the truth of a proposition was investigated based on the theory of correspondence of the mind to the object. But he reversed the equation and proposed another hypothesis, and called his view the Copernican revolution. According to Kant, the mind is like a person who wears red glasses. Obviously, this person does not create what he sees. On the other hand, it cannot see unless it is seen in red.
The tabula rasa metaphor
John Locke's philosophy is the opposite of Descartes's, who believed in the existence of natural concepts. Locke compared the mind to white paper and believed that everything comes from experience. It is worth mentioning that Aristotle also used this metaphor before Locke. The tabula rasa metaphor is especially favored by behavioral psychologists.
Bank metaphor
This metaphor was used by Paulo Freire. He compares traditional education to banking education, in which the student serves as a depository, and learning is limited to receiving, memorizing, and consuming data. On the contrary, he suggests problem-posing education and emphasizes cultivating critical awareness.
Computer metaphor
This metaphor considers the mind as a computer. Due to recent technological innovations in computer science, the mind-as-computer metaphor has been widely believed not only in popular imagination but also among professional cognitive psychologists. Because of this expansion in public opinion, Lakoff refers to the mentioned metaphor as the paradigm (The Mind-As-Machine Paradigm). Max Velmans has presented the theory of computational functionalism in the form of the following argument:
1- Mental actions are nothing but calculations.
2- The computer also performs calculations.
Therefore, the computer has a mind.
Critical review
The mentioned nine metaphors can be divided into two general categories based on whether the mind is passive or active. As observed, among the aforementioned metaphors, the metaphor of the prone earth and the glasses portrays the mind as active, whereas the rest portray the mind as passive. Regardless of the philosophical implications, this also has consequences for education, which we will discuss below.
Educational implications of passive and active mind in the curriculum
The elements of the curriculum, based on the passive and active views of the mind, are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Curriculum elements based on passive and active views of the mind
![src=./files/jpt/images/1485/Screenshot_2026-02-01_084313.png]()
The opposition of mind and object has existed in philosophy for a long time. The question that naturally arises here is what the mind is and what its nature is. In the philosophy of mind, the concept of consciousness is related to the meaning that is considered in this article (the power of cognition). Considering the problems that arise regarding consciousness or the mind, man is forced to appeal to metaphor because the visualization of abstract concepts is one of its cognitive functions. Throughout the history of philosophy, many metaphors for the mind have been used to facilitate thinking about it, especially when teaching it to beginners. What is intended in this article is the mind, which means the power of cognition in the process of teaching and learning. As experts have said, almost all curriculum elements, including teaching and learning, are based on a philosophy. Undoubtedly, the assumptions that exist about human nature are effective in the type of curriculum, teaching method, and school atmosphere; therefore, every educational theory, in general, and every learning theory, in particular, is based on the perspective of the educator and theoretician about the mind. The word mind is used frequently in educational texts, so explaining the metaphors of the mind helps us better understand the meaning of the authors and theoreticians who use it.
Definition of metaphor
From a traditional point of view, metaphor is the use of a word with a meaning other than its true meaning, based on a similarity between the real and figurative meanings, and the presumption that prevents it from being limited to its original meaning. Metaphor and simile are essentially the same, but a metaphor is a compact simile; that is, we summarize and compress the simile so much that only the tenor or vehicle remains. The difference between them is that a simile claims similarity and a metaphor claims sameness.
What passed was the traditional meaning of metaphor. According to what is known, the traditional point of view considers metaphor as merely a figure of speech. But Lakoff and Johnson believe that the essence of metaphor is the understanding and experience of something based on something else, so metaphors are not only rhetorical matters, and we do not use them only for literary purposes, but we live with them, and our intellectual system is also based on them.
Metaphors of the mind
In what follows, we will explain the metaphors used to describe the mind.
Written tablet metaphor
Plato believed that the human soul has learned all the truths in the ideal world before coming to this world and forgets them when it comes to this world. Therefore, his view of the human mind can be likened to a tablet. This metaphor believes in the theory of recall and not learning.
Metaphor of the statue
Condillac assumes a statue that is completely human-like but devoid of any information, with its senses completely blocked. Then he gives this statue the opportunity to use its sense of smell and shows how this sense leads to the formation of all human sensual life. Leibniz rejects this metaphor. The statue metaphor is opposed to the metaphor of the written tablet and views education as merely a product of learning and experience, a view that faces serious criticism.
Prone Earth metaphor
The most famous metaphors used in education are: factory, gardening, and travel. Usually, a teacher is compared to a gardener, and an educator is compared to a flower. Imam Ali has likened the heart of a teenager to an empty land that accepts whatever is thrown into it. The term Prone Earth is derived from this idea. In the gardening metaphor, unlike the factory metaphor, differences play an important role. This metaphor suggests that the teacher's (the gardener's) role is to nurture the learner (the seed), not to change the learner's natural characteristics. The gardener can only facilitate the growing conditions.
Mirror metaphor
According to the old books of logic, the mind is like a mirror in which the images of objects are reflected. Richard Rorty believes that the mind in the 17th century is like a big mirror that reflects the world in itself through its internal representations and images.
Eye metaphor
According to Rorty, the modern concept of the mind as a mirror of nature is Descartes's invention. According to Descartes, the mind is like an inner eye; its function is to subtlety the representations and images superimposed on it.
Glasses metaphor
Before Kant, the truth of a proposition was investigated based on the theory of correspondence of the mind to the object. But he reversed the equation and proposed another hypothesis, and called his view the Copernican revolution. According to Kant, the mind is like a person who wears red glasses. Obviously, this person does not create what he sees. On the other hand, it cannot see unless it is seen in red.
The tabula rasa metaphor
John Locke's philosophy is the opposite of Descartes's, who believed in the existence of natural concepts. Locke compared the mind to white paper and believed that everything comes from experience. It is worth mentioning that Aristotle also used this metaphor before Locke. The tabula rasa metaphor is especially favored by behavioral psychologists.
Bank metaphor
This metaphor was used by Paulo Freire. He compares traditional education to banking education, in which the student serves as a depository, and learning is limited to receiving, memorizing, and consuming data. On the contrary, he suggests problem-posing education and emphasizes cultivating critical awareness.
Computer metaphor
This metaphor considers the mind as a computer. Due to recent technological innovations in computer science, the mind-as-computer metaphor has been widely believed not only in popular imagination but also among professional cognitive psychologists. Because of this expansion in public opinion, Lakoff refers to the mentioned metaphor as the paradigm (The Mind-As-Machine Paradigm). Max Velmans has presented the theory of computational functionalism in the form of the following argument:
1- Mental actions are nothing but calculations.
2- The computer also performs calculations.
Therefore, the computer has a mind.
Critical review
The mentioned nine metaphors can be divided into two general categories based on whether the mind is passive or active. As observed, among the aforementioned metaphors, the metaphor of the prone earth and the glasses portrays the mind as active, whereas the rest portray the mind as passive. Regardless of the philosophical implications, this also has consequences for education, which we will discuss below.
Educational implications of passive and active mind in the curriculum
The elements of the curriculum, based on the passive and active views of the mind, are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Curriculum elements based on passive and active views of the mind