The Literary Mind.pdf

MANY SPACES 115
cists interested in the fundamental laws of the universe had to voyage to the tropics
to get the most revealing data. Cognitive scientists might interpret this as a parable
for their research. The hard sciences do not lump apparently odd events into
the category of what we don't need to explain, but rather give them special
attention. It is not clear that someone in the cognitive sciences who hopes her
discipline will attain to the prestige of the hard sciences should behave any differently.
In particular, the methods of the hard sciences give no legitimacy to the
story that we can tell in advance what is basic and what is exotic and form our
theories by ignoring what we think is exotic.
The processes of the literary mind are usually considered to be different from
and secondary to the processes of the everyday mind. On that assumption, the
everyday mind—with its stable concepts and literal reasoning—provides the
beginnings for the (optional) literary mind. On the contrary, processes that we
have always considered to be literary are at the foundation of the everyday mind.
Literary processes like blending make the everyday mind possible.