ABSTRACT
The unattended to ideas and motives referred to in Mitcham’s opening statement have roots inside of a largely symbolic process. Lakoff and Johnson spoke about the cognitive unconscious, or a system that functions like a “hidden hand” that shapes how we conceptualize all aspects of our experience, and how we automatically and unconsciously comprehend what we experience. This hidden hand shapes everyday commonsense reasoning, as well as philosophical concepts (including time, events, causation, essence, the mind and morality). Metaphor is the primary means of operation for this “hidden hand” (Lakoff, 1980).
