Metaphors are embodied otherwise they would not be metaphors
Linguistics Vanguard June 27, 2022 S. Torres-Martínez
This paper introduces the Embodied Extended Mind Theory (EEMT), which argues that metaphors reflect a connection between perception, memory, and consciousness, drawing on Active Inference (AIF) as a framework for understanding intelligent agency. The author contends that for a metaphor to be truly embodied, it must involve modality-specific simulations, not just activity in modality-specific brain areas. EEMT proposes that language carries traces of bodily acquired information reflecting biological processes of energy exchange and conservation. Embodied metaphors arise from the alignment of multiple independent systems during event reconstruction, using stored perceptual maps to manipulate concepts as part of complex event partitioning.