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Story, Metaphor, Vision:

Cognitive Science and the Humanities

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Conference Statement

Innovations in art, literature, and technology — for instance, moving images—give rise to potent conceptions for the workings of the mind. Experiments in narrative structure and visual representation emphasize that there is no simple, universal way to represent the world. At the same time, accelerating discoveries in the brain sciences are revealing in unprecedented detail how human minds work in such areas as visual depiction, the assembly of narratives and memories, and the use of metaphors to organize cognition. Domains of inquiry common to the humanities and brain science—such as narrative, metaphor, and vision—have reached a point of intersection that makes interdisciplinary discussion necessary.

There is no one way of depicting the world in art or literature, yet many facets of the new brain science point to consistent patterns in brain processes. Does this mean that we can speak of a "natural" mode of representation? Do new conceptions of how the brain works generate new paradigms for understanding the mind? Can we speak of judgment, evaluation and norms as cognitive functions? The intersection of cognitive science and the humanities challenges us to make connections between general biological accounts of cognition and specific cultural and historical manifestations.

A similar range of questions arises in the realm of narrative, which involves selection, and is not necessarily chronological or complete. Is it valid to speak of a "visual" or "narrative" structure of the mind?

In light of developments in cognitive and neuroscience, what role may we assign to the cultural imaginary—works of art, poetry, film, advertising—or to theories about culture? Is cognitive science itself governed by a covert metaphorics?

Moving beyond the simple dichotomy of the mind as mechanism versus the mind as spontaneous construct, this conference explores the many ways we depict the world in relation to knowledge about the nature of the brain.

Vision

Narrative

Metaphor