 |
| Mental Models Series |
Meaning is perceived,
internalized, processed, externalized and communicated in, respectively by the
mind through language. The morphological, syntactical and semantical structures
as well the richness of the language(s) acquired have a considerable impact on
our capability to describe and understand reality. Our mental space and structures
evolve with the natural and diagrammatic languages used, the units of the
language mapping to the units of our mental space.
At the base
of any language are a set of signs and sounds we can easily recognize. Signs are
written or printed marks that have standard meanings, while sounds are specific
impressions we hear and which in given arrangements, when recognized, convey meanings.
Signs together with shapes and objects form symbols that can be used to represent
something else, their meaning being usually standardized, however one can assign them
further meanings or create own symbols.
A word is a
single unit of language that has meaning and can be spoken or written. Words
are further grouped within expressions, sentences, propositions or phrases to
convey a thought or idea, which are in turn further aggregated in simile,
analogies, metaphors, parables and stories to convoy further meanings. A phrase
is formed from multiple sentences that together convoy a certain meaning. An
expression is a word or group of words used in a given situation or by
particular people. A proposition is interpreted as either true or false.
A simile is
the use of an expression that compares one thing with another using ‘as’ or ‘like’
in comparisons. An analogy is a comparison between things that have similar
features or behavior, often used to help explain a principle or idea. A metaphor
is an expression that describes one thing with the help of another thing considered
to have similar characteristics. A parable is a short, simple story that
teaches or explains an idea or truth, where a story is a description of a
connected series of events and situations, either true or imagined.
Similes,
analogies and metaphors are linguistic devices that add richness and further
dimensions to our mental processes and meaning structures, from a literature as
well a scientific aspect, if we consider that many of the scientific concepts are
metaphors per se.
Words or
combinations of words can be used as labels for a concept. The totality of the
words assimilated – for which a meaning is available – forms our vocabulary. Similes,
analogies, metaphors, parables and stories can help clarify and enrich the
meaning of a concept.
A phrase
can attempt to describe a mental model, while a mental model can be built to
understand or describe a phrase, however the two are not equivalent. In fact,
to describe a model will be needed to describe its elements and the relations
existing between them, together with the assumptions, beliefs and the
constraints that hold. Often, despite the richness of a natural language’s
vocabulary a description might need to use metaphors to convey an approximate
meaning.
The given
definitions are simplistic attempting to reflect the simplicity of the associations
we hold between the various concepts, and together, concepts, associations and
the meanings we hold form a mental model. Of course, the inner workings of the
mind are much more complex, evidence for this complexity being the huge volume
of books written over the centuries for the same purpose. There are also many
intentional and unintentional gaps and probably misunderstandings, however the
definitions are just an attempt to depict my understanding in the form of an
externalized mental model. Luckily our mental models don’t need to be accurate
in handling the reality and accomplishing the various tasks.
Previous Post <<||>> Next Post
Disclaimer: Most of the definitions were adapted from the Cambridge Dictionary, however there can be important deviations from the respective source.
No comments:
Post a Comment