From image schemas to narrative structures in sciences

Cognitive linguistics and the notion of an embodied mind tell us that human understanding and language make extensive use of figurative (imaginative, schematic) structures. Such structures range from the small-scale gestalts known as image schemas all the way to the large-scale structures of story, narrative, and history. In this paper I will show how a pervasive medium-scale system—the gestalt of forces of nature—is structured in terms of image schemas and their metaphoric projections. This leads to the notion of agents (such as wind, water, earth, and fire) that are central elements of stories allowing us to give the phenomena in nature a narrative scientific form. These structures will be embedded in a feedback model of figurative structures ranging from small to large scales of experience. Starting with a story about the character (agent) of cold holding a wintery town in its grip, I will identify a list of image schematic elements and show how their metaphoric projection leads to fleshing out of the character of the force of cold. This includes logical reasoning about what the agent is capable of. If care is taken to differentiate the aspects of the gestalt of a force in the course of education, we can hope to foster a solid understanding of natural phenomena in a child by using stories that can slowly evolve into more formal narratives. The abstract structure of the gestalt of forces is a pervasive component of our conceptualization of social, psychological, and natural forces and forms the foundation of macroscopic physics. Therefore, the small to large-scale figurative structures used in a narrative approach to science for young learners are the same as those found in formal science. This observation allows me to claim that a science pedagogy based on figurative narrative structures of the human mind prepares learners for later formal education in the sciences.