COGNITION AND SOCIETY: A VIEW FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS

Abstract

This work proposes a reflection on the relationship between cognition and society, from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics (CL). The concept of embodied cognition, one of the pillars of cognitive linguistics, challenges any possible dichotomy between the two concepts, since cognitive representations, such as frames, idealized cognitive models (ICMs) and conceptual metaphors would be anchored in conceptualizations of both sensory-motor and sociocultural experiences. The search for the understanding of the relationship between society and cognition, however, must, according to Gibbs (2001), must leave the exclusive realm of thought and find the world. For this reason, we propose an approach in line with recent cognitive-discursive trends, which seeks theoretical and methodological tools to systematize the investigation of such articulation. Among these instruments, the distinction between system and use, episodic and stable cognition, online and offline frames and situated and conceptual metaphors has proved to be both theoretically and analytically productive.