Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking (142 page)

literal encoding as inadequate,
174–175
;
see also
abstraction

literal-mindedness in the Copycat domain,
348–349
,
351
,
355
,
357–360
,
363–364

Locke, John,
22

logic: influence on psychologists’ theories of categories,
55
,
436
; the small role of, in thinking,
258
,
288
,
392
;
versus
psychologic,
410
;
see also
analogic
versus
logic

loot carried off by thief,
472

“lovely spots” on city streets, as influencing perception,
296–297

lowercasing of categories,
34–35
,
44

“lustre”, as possible French analogue to English word “score” in Gettysburg-address translation challenge,
372

—M—

Macbeth effect,
289–290

Mach, Ernst,
487

machine translation,
see
translation

Madonna,
223
; syllogistic proof of mortality of,
193

magical angel stung by randomly buzzing interplanetary bumblebee,
493

magnet in motion, giving rise to electric field,
493

making distinctions and seeing commonalities,
189
,
198

Malevich, Kazimir,
296

“man”, ambiguity of,
193–195

Mandarin,
see
Chinese

Mandelbrot, Benoît,
444

manipulations, routine, in math,
449–450

manipulators
versus
manipulatees,
382–383

Marceau, Marcel,
322

marking,
186–187
,
193–204
,
217–218
; applied to proper nouns,
227
; and category extension,
254
; helping to reveal a concept’s essence,
255
; list of examples of,
195
; in mathematics,
228–232
,
419
; in metaphor understanding,
229–232
; origin of the term,
218

marriage
, concept of, in constant evolution,
53

Martin, Mr.: as dog fancier,
238–239
; as multi-categorizer,
189–190
,
197
,
248
,
435

Mary, mother of Jesus,
38

Maslow, Abraham,
301

mass: barrier between two varieties of,
476
,
478
,
484
; belonging to immaterial phenomena,
475
; conservation of,
472
,
475
; interconvertibility between two varieties of,
480
,
484
; loss of, as result of radiation,
470–471
,
475
; normal
versus
strange,
476–485
; poofing out of existence,
472
,
475
,
477–479
,
481
,
482
,
484
; possessed by energy,
471–478
; possessed by heat,
475
,
476
; possesses energy,
482
; two types of,
476
,
477–478
,
485

mass/energy
analogy in Einstein’s mind,
472
,
479–481
,
482
,
484
; running aground on a fatal snag,
480
,
484

mathematical formulas, mistaken views of,
391–394

mathematicians: arguing over category membership,
392
; reluctant to extend categories,
440–444
; seeing analogies between analogies,
502
; “sniffing” the crux of a problem,
451
; thinking by analogy,
439–451
; toolkit of,
450

mathematics: ambiguity in,
237
; analogy with Monopoly,
450–451
; causality in,
411
; imagined as lacking blurriness,
233
,
392
,
439; intuition in,
451
; marking in,
228–232
; naïve analogies in,
407–434
,
439
; rooted in everyday experiences,
393
,
427
; routine situations in, crying out for specific routine techniques,
449–450
; spectrum of subtlety of analogy-making in,
451
; unusual categorizations of,
510
; use of analogy in,
439–451

matter as imbued with energy,
481

Maxwell, James Clerk,
130
,
212
,
213
,
275
,
361
,
453
,
459
,
502

Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution,
457
,
458
;
see also
ideal gas

Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism,
361
,
410–411
,
456
,
459
,
489
; both confirmed and undermined by one and the same experiment by Hertz,
460

measurement
: contrasted with
sharing
,
420
,
422–426
; of energy
E
in units of size
hν
,
459
; as key concept in division,
420

“Mecca” pluralized to “mecca”,
220

meccas
, list of,
220
; of wind-surfing,
229

mechanical translation,
see
translation

mechanics: defined,
466
; generalized to all of physics,
466–467
,
494–495
,
499

medium: in producing shadows,
207–208
; of waves,
210–214

“melting” of components in compound words,
87
,
111

membership in categories: non-black-and-white nature of,
14
,
55–57
; transitory nature of,
225

memo to office assistant, ambiguity of many words in,
395

memories of the past, as allegedly shackling people,
313–315

memory retrieval: alleged uselessness of,
338
,
341
; allegedly triggered by irrelevant features,
341
; salient features’ dominance in,
342
; surface-level features’ alleged dominance in,
337–346
; virtuosity in,
110
;
see
also
remindings

menace
, as typical example of a verb naming a category,
66–67

mental blocks, recipes for escape from,
248–249

mental bridges,
183–184
;
see also
analogy-making

mental lexicon,
137

mental simulation in math wordproblems,
421–425
,
427–429

mental spaces,
365
;
see also
Fauconnier

mess
, as example of a highly protean concept,
5
,
127
,
510

meta-analogies: in doing theoretical physics,
212
; in evolution of
wave
concept,
211–212
; in ordinary conversation,
27

metallurgists appreciating the blurriness of the category
metal
,
60

metaphorical
versus
literal meanings,
37–38

“metaphorical” usages: not always metaphorical,
229–230
; three types of,
230–232

metaphors: conventional,
229–232
; creativity in many,
510
; embodiment and,
286–289
; families of,
63
; as flapdoodle,
22
; Glucksberg–Keysar theory of,
228–229
; going dead over time,
64
; list of common words used as,
62
; list of sentences using stock,
232
; mixture of abstract and concrete in,
286–290
; “mobile army of” (Nietzsche),
21
; process of understanding of,
228–232
; scorned by Hobbes,
22
; used to criticize metaphors,
22

“me too”, unclear halo implicit in the phrase,
145
,
150–153

me-too analogies,
143–153
; in Copycat’s microdomain,
346–358
; marginal members of the category,
147
; phrases that often are giveaways of,
143
,
152
,
507
; the ubiquity of,
507–508

métro in Paris,
215
; American transculturation of,
377–379

microworlds,
305

“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow”,
109

military-budget arguments mobilizing flow of ideas,
26

military
versus
non-military analogies in times of war,
333–335

milk carton too heavy for bag,
133

Millikan, Robert,
461

Minkowski, Hermann,
453
,
498–499

mistaken-identity scenes,
291–292

“mobile army of metaphors” (Nietzsche),
21
,
509

Molière,
186
,
248

Mommy
as core of concept
mother
,
34–37

Mona Lisa with mustache,
351

monolithicness of categories, illusory,
3–5
,
9–13
,
71
,
81–83
,
241

Monopoly,
11
,
450–451

Moon
, analogical extension of, leading to the concept
moon
,
43–45
,
64
,
147
,
210
,
217

moonlets in Saturn’s rings, waves in medium of,
21

“morsel of shame”,
140

Moser, David,
89
,
150–151
,
259
,
291–292

mosquito: in nudist colony,
320
; perspective on Albert Einstein of,
163
,
164–165

mother:
abstract extensions of the category,
37–38
,
53
; development of the category,
34–38
,
48
,
53
; marginal cases of,
37–38
; as opposed to the concept
mommy
,
36

motion, children’s naïve view of,
294–295

Mount Analogy: scaling hardest slopes with and without pitons,
131
; trekking on,
126
,
131–132

mouse, as tangible gateway to intangible world,
252–253
,
509

mouse/limb
analogy,
252–253

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus,
223
; of mushrooms, the,
222
,
229

“much”: syntactic slots for, as a category,
68–70

much
-situations: nature of,
67–68
; role of expectations in,
68

multi-categorizability: of objects,
59
,
189–192
; of situations,
117–118
,
188
,
248

multiplication: apparent asymmetry of,
413
,
415
,
428
; commutativity of,
413–416
; generalized to abstract objects,
446–447
; mental simulation used to solve,
424–425
,
427–429
; naïve analogies for,
411–416
; as necessarily making larger,
413–414
,
416
; as repeated addition,
412–416
,
427–429
; tables, patterns in,
446–447

multitasking:
concept borrowed without awareness from computer world,
402–403
; passage of the concept into the everyday world,
404

Munich conference,
332
,
334
; pluralization of,
335

Murphy, Gregory,
60
,
436

Mussolini, Benito, of mulligatawny, the,
222
,
360

music keyboards, electronic, and musicianship,
131

musical instruments and zeugmas,
11–12

mystical characterization of genius,
501

—N—

naïve analogies,
31–32
; as bases for effective interfaces,
400
; coexisting with other views,
389
,
409
; concerning analogy-making,
451
; concerning categorization,
435–436
; concerning cicadas,
388
; concerning disk ejection,
401
; concerning division,
416–421
,
425–426
; concerning email addresses,
385–387
; concerning the equals sign,
407–411
; concerning icons,
402; concerning motion,
294–295
; concerning multiplication,
411–416
; concerning shaving,
385–387
; concerning size changes,
295
; concerning titmice,
385–387
; concerning virtual desktops,
401
; deep entrenchedness of,
394
,
409
; defined,
386
; education and,
389–394
,
409
,
411–434
; like groomed-slope skiers,
389
; linking cleanliness to morality,
289–290
; made by analogy experts,
436–437
; in mathematics,
407–434
,
439
; in mathematicians’ minds,
439
,
441
; misleading nature of,
400–401
; not eliminated by scientific training,
389
,
394
; permeating today’s computer technology,
400
; rooted in everyday experience,
386
,
389
,
391
,
393–394
; stemming from the computer world,
402–407
; unconscious character of,
386
,
389
,
512
; underlying jargon-creation,
399–400
; utility of,
389