The Chinese HEART in a Cognitive Perspective

Culture, Body, and Language

Ning Yu

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9783110205169
• eBook ISBN: 9783110213348
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistic Semantics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book is a cognitive semantic study of the Chinese conceptualization of the heart, traditionally seen as the central faculty of cognition. The Chinese word xin, which primarily denotes the heart organ, covers the meanings of both "heart" and "mind" as understood in English, which upholds a heart-head dichotomy. In contrast to the Western dualist view, Chinese takes on a more holistic view that sees the heart as the center of both emotions and thought. The contrast characterizes two cultural traditions that have developed different conceptualizations of person, self, and agent of cognition.

The concept of "heart" lies at the core of Chinese thought and medicine, and its importance to Chinese culture is extensively manifested in the Chinese language. Diachronically, this book traces the roots of its conception in ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine. Along the synchronic dimension, it not only makes a systematic analysis of conventionalized expressions that reflect the underlying cultural models and conceptualizations, as well as underlying conceptual metaphors and metonymies, but also attempts a textual analysis of an essay and a number of poems for their metaphoric and metonymic images and imports contributing to the cultural models and conceptualizations. It also takes up a comparative perspective that sheds light on similarities and differences between Western and Chinese cultures in the understanding of the heart, brain, body, mind, self, and person.

The book contributes to the understanding of the embodied nature of human cognition situated in its cultural context, and the relationship between language, culture, and cognition.

Table of contents

• Frontmatter
• Table of contents
• 1.1. Object and goal: Chinese concept of xin ‘heart’
• 1.2. Heart, culture, and cognition
• 1.3. Body, society, and cognition
• 1.4. Body, mind, and culture
• 1.5. Cognitive semantic study of metaphor: Embodiment
• 1.6. Structure of the book
• 2.1. Introduction: Basic philosophical notions and constructs
• 2.2. The heart as the locus of the “mind”
• 2.3. The heart as the locus of moral sense
• 2.4. The heart as the locus of societal governance
• 2.5. Summary and discussion
• 3.1. Introduction: Basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine
• 3.2. The heart as the ruler of the body
• 3.3. The heart as the grand master of the internal organs
• 3.4. The heart or brain: Which one governs the spiritual light?
• 3.5. Summary and discussion
• 4.1. Introduction: A cognitive semantic study
• 4.2. The heart as a physical entity
• 4.3. The heart as the locus of one’s inner self
• 4.4. The heart as the locus of mental life
• 4.5. The heart as the locus of emotional life
• 4.6. Summary and discussion
• 5.1. Introduction: Textual analysis
• 5.2. The heart in an essay on the “heart”
• 5.3. The heart in some poems on the “heart”
• 5.4. Summary and discussion
• 6.1. Introduction: An external viewpoint
• 6.2. Conceptions of the heart and brain in the West
• 6.3. A comparative perspective from English
• 6.4. Four humors and five elements
• 6.5. Summary and discussion
• 7.1. Looking back in perspective: Some highlights
• 7.2. Bringing into focus: Holism and dualism, heart and head
• 7.3. Looking beyond: Methodological issues
• 7.4. Emerging from it: Afterword
• Backmatter