Quotes from George Lakoff

The most important claim we have made so far is that metaphor is not just a matter of language, that is, of mere words. We shall argue that, on the contrary, human thought processes are largely metaphorical.

If the facts don't fit one's worldview, one of several things can happen: • The fact may be changed to fit your worldview. • The fact may be ignored. • The fact may be rejected and possibly ridiculed. • Or the facts, if threatening to your worldview, may be attacked. All

How can conservatives love their country, love their system of government, love the founders of their government, but resent and often hate the government itself?

We can now suggest an answer to the questions asked above. If conservatism is based on Strict Father morality, conservatives have the general metaphors of the Moral Order in their conceptual systems, with at least a couple of clauses, namely, God above human beings; human beings above animals and the natural world; adults above children; men above women. The Moral Order hierarchy used to have all the bigoted clauses in it; now it has many open slots available for such clauses. Let

A serious appreciation of cognitive science requires us to rethink philosophy from the beginning, in a way that would put it more in touch with the reality of how we think. ... Unless we know our cognitive unconscious fully and intimately, we can neither know ourselves nor truly understand the basis of our moral judgments, our conscious deliberations, and our philosophy.

Not surprisingly, the social reality defined by a culture affects its conception of physical reality. What is real for an individual as a member of a culture is a product both of his social reality and of the way in which that shapes his experience of the physical world. Since

If we are to know ourselves, philosophy needs to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the sciences of mind.

There is no Chomskyan person, for whom language is pure syntax, pure form insulated from and independent of all meaning, context, perception, emotion, memory, attention, action, and the dynamic nature of communication. Moreover, human language is not a totally genetic innovation. Rather, central aspects of language arise evolutionarily from sensory, motor, and other neural systems that are present in lower animals.

Morality of Reward and Punishment plays an enormous role in the conservative worldview. The reward side rules out any government distribution of wealth or benefits that is not based on free market competition, and it makes the right to the disposition of private property absolute; the punishment side focuses the criminal justice system on retribution.

start with values, preferably values all Americans share such as security, prosperity, opportunity, freedom

Rewards and punishments are moral acts; giving someone an appropriate reward or punishment balances the moral books.

Empathy is the heart of democracy. Citizens care about other citizens. Freedom means freedom for everybody. That's government of, by, and for the People.

To get a sense of how equality is contested in politics, consider the constant struggle between liberals and conservatives over what equality means: equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome. Conservatives

In a system where authority is of the utmost importance, the debt-payment principle is given much heavier weight than the positive-action principle.

Conservatives commonly characterize liberals in three ways: (1) as lovers of bureaucracy; (2) as defenders of special interests; and (3) as advocating only rights and no responsibilities (the "permissive society").

President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 speech at the Howard University commencement: It is not enough to open the gates of opportunity; all our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates … . We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result … . To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough.8 Because

In creating new paths, the "deviant" can make those paths appear safe to others and thus lead them to change their lives. Thus

Reason is not universal in the transcendent sense; that is, it is not part of the structure of the universe. It is universal, however, in that it is a capacity shared universally by all human beings. What allows it to be shared are the commonalities that exist in the way our minds are embodied.

The nurturant parent model has two equal parents, whose job is to nurture their children and teach their children to nurture others. Nurturance has two dimensions: empathy and responsibility, for oneself and others.

Competition therefore is moral; it is a condition for the development and sustenance of the right kind of person. Correspondingly, constraints on competition are immoral; they inhibit the development and sustenance of the right kind of person. Even

Reason is not completely conscious, but mostly unconscious. Reason is not purely literal, but largely metaphorical and imaginative. Reason is not dispassionate, but emotionally engaged.

This is not just about same-sex couples. It is about which values will dominate in our society.

Global warming is real, and it is here. It is causing—yes, causing—death, destruction, and vast economic loss. And the causal effects are getting greater with time. We cannot merely adapt to it. The costs are incalculable. What we are facing is huge. Each day, the amount of extra energy accumulating via the heating of the earth is the equivalent of 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. Each day!

The goal is to activate your model in the people in the "middle.