Wann: Mittwoch, 4. Juli 2018, 19:00 Uhr s.t.
Wo: Holzersaal, Sommerresidenz (Ostenstraße 26, 85072 Eichstätt)
Abstract:
Other species have abilities we do not—they can fly, spin webs, photosynthesize. But human beings are the heavyweight champions of extremely rapid creativity. We are the origin of ideas. We invent and disseminate new ideas constantly, often ideas that range across vast expanses of time, space, causation, and agency—expanses that go far beyond human scale and that leave other species in the dust. Why are we so innovative? How can our little brains hold onto new ideas once they are formed? Professor Turner explores the ways in which advanced human cognition, often profoundly conservative, is remarkable for its ability to blend old ideas to make new ones, with emergent meaning arising in the blend. Advanced blending, a basic mental operation for human beings, is a constant, everyday mental activity, not costly and not reserved for special effects, even though it is almost entirely unnoticed. It appears to operate according to uniform principles and under uniform constraints, underlying mathematical insight, scientific discovery, advanced social cognition, art, music, religion, fashion, decision-making, grammar, and the rest of the performances that distinguish cognitively modern human beings. This talk will provide an introduction to conceptual blending, with emphasis on blending in communication.
Professor Turner ist ein international renommierter Kognitionswissenschaftler und u.a. Anneliese Maier-Forschungspreisträger der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. Die Entwicklung des Konzepts des "conceptual blendings" geht im Wesentlichen auf ihn zurück. In seinen Arbeiten zeigt er, dass menschliches Denken beschrieben werden kann als komplexe mentale Operationen zur Kombination von "Frames". Er beschrieb dies als Quelle der Kreativität und originellen Denkens.