Read Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking Online
Authors: Douglas Hofstadter,Emmanuel Sander
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking (135 page)
Buffett, Warren,
320
bumblebee,
see
angel stung by bumblebee
bureaucratic use of acronyms,
92
Buresh, Ellie,
364–366
Buridan’s ass,
454
Bush/Schwarzenegger analogical conflation,
275
but
as a category,
55
,
70–75
; contrasted with
and
,
72–75
; in Russian,
74
“butter for lobster tails” joke,
358
“butterfingers”, as isolated metaphorical usage,
63–64
button #1/button #2
analogy by Monica,
169–170
buzzing interplanetary bumblebee,
see
randomly buzzing interplanetary bumblebee
—C—
c
, the: in string
abc
,
349
,
355
; in string
xyz
,
354
,
356
“camel”, marked and unmarked senses of,
199–200
Camille (who undressed the banana),
39
,
41
,
126
candle problem, Duncker’s,
250
,
256
canine concepts,
178–181
canonization of individuals,
221–222
can-opener, universal,
439
Cantor, George,
444
“car”, marked
versus
unmarked senses of,
197
,
230
,
232
Cardano, Gerolamo,
438–440
,
441
,
445
,
449
caricature analogies: analyzed,
320–330
; blurted out,
323–324
,
382–383
; cascade of,
323–324
; clarity as goal of,
317–318
,
326–330
; concreteness as force in,
329
; creativity of,
324–326
; diverse forms of,
320
; drastic simplification in,
326
; essence-spotting in,
321–322
,
324–330
; exaggeration as inadequate for,
321
; for explaining subtle ideas to others or oneself,
326–330
;
feeble example of,
320
; humorous baseball examples of,
325–326
,
383
; involving French number-words “cinq” and “six”,
380
; list of,
318–320
; involving Jan’s liquid and frozen assets,
476
,
481
,
485
; mini-scenarios imagined in creation of,
323–324
; mocking the timidity of Einstein’s Nobel Prize citation,
462
; non-uniqueness of,
323
,
325
; rapidity of,
321
,
323–324
; reasons for concocting,
31
,
317–318
,
322
,
324–328
; search processes in,
321–322
,
324–325
; translation of,
380
; used by the authors,
13
,
18
,
22
,
25
,
65
,
108
,
281
,
320
,
321
,
337
,
340
,
366
,
370–371
,
411
,
454
,
462
,
468
,
476
,
485
,
497
,
527
Carol signing with maiden name,
148–149
cars, blue, analogy between,
283
carving up the world in “the right way”,
14
,
77
,
522–523
casting pearls before swine
, as category,
165
categorical blinders,
290–296
,
400
categories: absurdly fine-grained,
83
; ad-hoc,
137–138
; base-level,
190
; as blinders,
290–293
,
313
; blurriness in,
60
,
61
,
214–216
,
244
,
523
; as boxes,
13–14
,
435–436
,
520
,
522
; of children,
39–43
,
45
; classical approach to,
13–14
,
54–57
,
435
; competition between,
260–278
,
281
; defined by fables,
29–30
,
113–118
; as defining identity,
190
; degree of centrality of members of,
57
; development over time,
34–38
,
43–45
,
198–204
; in discourse space,
69–76
; of dogs,
178–181
; dominant,
191
; as drawers in a dresser,
13
; extended by analogy-making,
34–38
,
46
,
62
,
115–116
,
246–248
; with extremely intangible flavors,
75
; as filters on perception,
292
,
298–299
; handed out on the silver platter of one’s language and culture,
123–124
,
128–131
; ideal degree of refinement of,
83–84
,
108
; imprecision of boundaries of,
55–61
; instantly forgotten,
284
; jumping unbidden to mind,
513
; levels of abstraction of,
188
; as the motor and fuel of cognition,
506
; natural grain size of,
84
; nested in the manner of Russian dolls,
520
; non-lexicalized,
137
,
139–140
,
166–167
,
176–180
; organization of, as critical for expertise,
187
,
237–246
,
393
; as organs of perception,
257
,
299
,
314
; outnumbering words by far,
85
; overly subdivided,
83
; people’s frequent conflation with sets of visible objects,
54–55
; private repertoire of,
166–168
,
283–284
; as relational,
517–519
; seeming to be objectively
there
,
110
,
111
,
132–133
; suburbs of,
65
,
202
,
213
; unnoticed at their birth,
167
; whose members exhibit great variety,
516
;
see also
concepts categorization: as allowing prediction,
14–15
; as applying to entities
versus
applying to relations,
517–519
; as assignment to a schema,
336
; automaticity of,
513–514
; as bridge-building between two items on the same level,
519–522
; carried out by analogy-making,
18–19
,
179
,
183–184
,
309
,
336
,
399
; as compatible with many disparities,
515–517
; competition during,
261
; as a conscious process,
510–513
; as a constant necessity,
505
; as the core of cognition,
505
,
530
; as creative,
508–510
; described by experts exactly as analogy-making is described,
436
,
506
; errors in,
102–103
,
527
; by experts
versus
by novices,
342–344
,
346
; as fallible and misleading,
527–529
; growing smoothly out of a single first instance,
182–184
,
336
,
520
,
522
; as humdrum,
508–510
; identity with analogy-making,
503–530
; illusion of automaticity of,
450
,
513–514
; as a judgment call,
117–118
,
126
; as jumping between two levels of abstraction,
519–522
; as making the novel familiar,
436
,
506
; as making the world predictable,
436
; as the meat and potatoes of cognition,
506
; nature of,
13–15
; not taught in schools,
60
,
65
,
126
,
127
; as objective,
522–526
; as often being erroneous,
102–103
,
527
; opacity of its mechanisms,
511
; “pure”,
65
; rapid, as crucial for survival,
79
,
83
,
505–506
; as rapid simplification,
505–506
; reflecting one’s current perspective,
526
; as reliable,
527–529
; as risk-free,
527
; as routine,
508–510
; shades of gray in,
14
; as subjective,
522–526
; as suspect,
527–529
; as an unconscious process,
510–513
; as uncreative,
509
;
versus
analogy-making,
434–437
; as a voluntary process,
513–514
; as weakened by disparities,
515–517
category boundaries, treated as sharp in everyday speech,
61
category/city
analogy,
61–62
,
522
category extension: via analogy,
187
,
254
,
395–400
,
402–407
; applied to proper nouns,
217–223
; as an art,
468
; as deep human drive,
64
,
216
; by Einstein,
465–468
,
485–486
,
495–496
; by Ellenbogen, Gelenk,
et al
,
463–465
; guiding role of language in,
465
; horizontal,
463–468
; as a kind of refinement,
84
; and marking,
254
; of
number
,
439–443
,
447–448
; from the physical world to the virtual world,
394–400
; repeated acts of,
150
; as revealing hidden conceptual essences,
200–204
,
255
,
295
,
397–398
; unconscious, in me-too’s,
150
; vertical,
463–468
; of very recent concepts,
130
,
402–407
; from the virtual world to the physical world,
402–407
category membership: context-dependence of,
58
,
185–186
; hypothetical courses in,
60
,
65
,
70
; illusion of precision of,
59–60
; illusion of uniqueness of,
58
,
190
,
192
,
465–466
; as intrinsically blurry,
60
; measured by strength of analogousness,
399
; necessary and sufficient conditions for,
55
,
436
; not taught in schools,
60
,
65
,
126
,
127
;
versus
playing a role in an analogy,
399
category systems: building of, as education’s goal,
393
; rival,
241
,
243
cat’s death, as inappropriate reminding,
157
cause–effect naïve analogy for equations,
410–411
;
see also
operation–result
centrality
versus
marginality of members of concepts,
57–58
chair
, diversity of members of the category,
4
,
5
,
107
chance favoring the prepared mind,
300
Char (labrador), analogies by,
180
chat room
concept, contaminated by
thin wall
concept,
406
chess, novices’ lack of skill in,
340
Chi, Michelene,
342
Chiflet, Jean-Loup,
97
“child” concepts modifying “parent” concepts,
53–54
children: abstraction by,
41–43
; categorization by,
39–43
,
45
; inferences by,
391
; riskily exploring usage patterns of the word “much”,
70
; semantic choices made by,
41–43
,
270
,
273
Chinese language: concepts different from English-language counterparts,
368
; Katy’s dream in,
504
; “Once bitten, twice shy” in,
105
; zeugmas in,
12
Chinese Pythagoras,
221
Chopin, Frédéric,
312
; canonized,
221
Chrysippus,
210
chunking: of concepts over one’s lifetime,
50–54
; perceptual, and
esthetics,
349–352
chunks: in bilingual data base,
372–373
,
375
; of light,
see
light quanta
“ciao”: competing with “grazie”,
269
; competing with “salve” and “buongiorno”,
45–46
cicada, naïve analogy concerning,
388
“ciel”, vast number of meanings of, as typical,
375
,
376
“Cigale et la Fourmi” (La Fontaine),
388
cigarette “melting” in ashtray,
40
; as the flip side of chocolates “going up in smoke”,
126
cigarette/penis
analogy,
362
“circle”, literal
versus
metaphorical uses of,
64