Computation and Blending

Recent work into the cognitive foundations of conceptual integration and blended mental provides a unifying umbrella framework for a range of cognitive 'siblings' that have been studied with relative independence, such as metaphor, analogy, concept , grammaticalization, counterfactual thought, and abstract problem solving. The 'many-space' or 'conceptual integration networks' theory of Fauconnier and Turner (1994; 1998) an elaboration of the two-space model of metaphor that has been the corner-stone of the field since Aristotle (see Hutton, 1982), and which has underpinned a string of theories from Nietzsche (see Culler, 1980) through Richards (1936), Black (1962), (1964) to Lakoff and Johnson (1980). These theories posit a metaphor (or by extension, cognitive siblings) to concern the interaction of two conceptual spaces; the space which is by the metaphor has variously been termed the target, the tenor or the topic, while the that provides the description has been called the source, the vehicle or the base.