Conceptual Analysis - Essay Example

Conceptual Analysis Introduction Aim of conceptual analysis is to identify and analyzes concepts behind words usage. It isa human cognitive activity. The concept behind words can be identified by uses of Sowa-Slowman heuristic. Since words have concepts behind them, so have pictures. Human beings come across concepts behind images in their daily lives. Process of going through visual signs to concepts is non-trivial one. Like conceptual analysis, system thinking is a cognitive activity. It uses concepts to understand referent system in surrounding. In mental model, which is a typically conceptual model that contains intuitive sub-conceptual components, paradox and language are inherent. Conceptual analysis Sowa (1983) in his book argues that Conceptual Structure surveys psychological and philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence theory. This includes an epilogue regarding limits of formal reasoning. His ideas develop a knowledge notation referred to as a conceptual graph and reasoning operator that manipulates it. The concept, Sowa-Slowman heuristic, may be used to analyse natural language. It is vital for identifying concepts behind words. In its strength, book shows, how notation is significant for processing natural language, knowledge engineering and database inferences (Sowa, 1983). Sowa-Slowman heuristic may be used to analyze concepts such as immortality, religion, and ethics. In human life, religion is important. It is not only necessary, but is also a significant element of human life. Importance of religion varies from different people adopting different religion. This is because different religions have different ideology standpoints. What is right in one religion may be unlawful in another religion. A lot of efforts and money have been spent on religion. To highlight the importance of religion in human life, some people leave their flourishing career, profitable businesses, families and everything they own to follow their religion. Some religions demonstrate importance of religion over power, money, property, relationship, and position, through holy wars that lead to loss of lives. People follow religion to seek answers to most confusing questions in life. They attach a particular level of importance to religion and trust that it will provide them with correct answers. The major types of religion in a world, today, are Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. All this religions stress importance of moral values that enables followers to lead righteous lives. Like religion, immortality is viewed with great value among different people. Many people may wonder if immortality is important to human beings. It is associated with religion. One cannot talk about immortality without mentioning religion. Most people adhere to religion since it promises immortal life after death. For some people, idea of immortality may ruin their religious life. Different religion has different views of immortality. Some, through holy war, believe that suicide bombing will take them to heaven and be awarded with seventy virgins. For others, immortality is award given after a life of tribulation and upholding scripture. Notion of immortality has moral value. People live according to teaching of their religions to ensure immortality. It helps one to live an ethical life according to their religions. There are several types of immortality namely lateral, which is achieved without dying, spiritual, achieved after death; genetic propagated in offspring, memorial, and legendary that lives in stories people tells about a person. Pictures—and a Thousand Words Since words have concepts behind them, images also certainly have concepts that they represent. Societies create signs and attach meanings to them. These signs mean something beyond themselves. Theory that tries to define signs is called semiotic. Although some signs are universal, others can only be created and consumed in confinement of a given society. Hall gives a picture depicting Adam and Eve in Garden Eden and a series of dots as examples visual signs (Hall, 2012). These two different images have a different meaning to societies that use them. Depending on information one has on a visual sign, he or she attaches a different meaning to it. The apple in a visual image that depicts Adam and Eve in Garden of Eden has a significant meaning to a Christian, who upholds story of creation from the Bible. The apple represents tree of knowledge. This is the tree that Adam and Eve were instructed by God not to eat from. Christians believes that Satan, in a form of a serpent, approached Eve and convinces her to eat a fruit from the tree of knowledge. Eve gives the fruit to Adam, and they both fall from grace in the eyes of God. One may think that Lucas Cranach painting represent story in bible. There is no reference of an apple in a biblical story of creation. There is mention of fruit that is not revealed. What is known from the bible is that fruit was of good and evil. In interpreting use of a visual image, there is a signifier and a meaning that is signified. In this painting, Lucas uses an apple as signifier used to signify temptation (Hall, 2012); hence, temptation is signified. Any other fruits could have been used to signify temptation, though Lucas uses an apple. Success of signifier used is based on existing relationship between signifier and signified (Hall, 2012). There should be, in mind, the relationship between appearance of temptation and apple for it to produced desired results. A single signifier may represent a set of signified. The example that used dots represents signs used in braille. One must understand such sign language to decode them. Each combination of dots represents a letter that when combined in a unique way forms words. In this example, dots represent word blind, which carries a meaning. It is, therefore, signifier. Meaning carried; that is someone lacks ability to see, is what a word signifies. Meaning is signified. Relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary. As relationship between words and meaning is a language, visual signs and their meanings are arbitrary. This means that there is no association between a visual sign (signifier) and object (signified). A society using a visual sign accepts and attaches meaning to a sign. In this case, people who use braille attach a meaning to the certain combination of dots to represent letters (Hall, 2012). Experientialism and Mental Models Mental models shape human beings understanding of a world. They are deeply, deep-seated assumptions pictures, images, or generalization influence how one views, understand a world, and take actions. Sometimes humans are not aware of how their own mental models or effects they have on their behaviors (Senge, 2006). Mental models are typically conceptual models that contain intuitive sub-conceptual. A paradox is described as a conflict between what one expects based on mental model against what is the situation as referent world. What one may find from surrounding may be different from what they expect from their mental models. First instance of the paradox is significance of oxygen in human lives. Oxygen is vital for living. Without it, humans will all die. Research shows that oxygen, element that living things need most to survive, is what causes death; what can be described as natural death. According to a mental model, oxygen is necessary for living, which is undisputed fact, but accumulation of oxygen compounds in human cells caused death eventually. Notion of importance of oxygen in humans’ lives shapes their behavior. Everybody wants to live in an environment with clean air. From early lives of education, children are taught that oxygen is required for leaving. This shapes their mental model to appreciating its value not knowing that an accumulation of free radicles in cells exhibit their functioning leading to death; therefore, without oxygen, one would die and with the same oxygen, people eventually die. Also as a paradox, is functioning of a computer. Many regard a computer as a smart machine that can perform operations without human intervention. Despite speed at which it performs tasks, computer has been described as a damp machine. As per mental model, a computer is an intelligent machine that a world cannot live without. People use computer to perform complex tasks, communicate, and entertainment. A computer only does what it is told and nothing more. It is programmed to work how it works. The two examples depict paradox. They describe a conflict between perception of the world based on a mental model and what is really is reality. Language alters ones mental model. Mental models facilitate discussions, dialogue, and their understanding. They help one interpret others use of language; hence, understanding their actions. As mental model are essential in an interpreting language, language is a vital element of mental models. For instance, I meet a friend in a party. The friend says, “Today is a nice day”. I reply, “Yes, it is a cool day”. In such context, words cool and nice may have a similar connotation. My friend meant that a today is a nice day when we meet friends and new people in the party. I meant that this is a calm day away from studies, and I have time with friends. Another instance is when my friend says that he thought he say my cousin in party. My cousins had recently flown out of a country so I said, “it cannot be her”. This describes two different mental models. My friend meant that he had seen my cousin, or a person who resembled my cousin, that he thought it was her that he saw. My response meant that person he saw could not be my cousin because I had knowledge that my cousin was out of a country. The explained scenarios depict two different mental models. In conclusion, conceptual analysis is a human cognitive activity aiming to identify and analyzes concepts behind words usage. Sowa-Slowman heuristic can be used to describe concepts behind words. Like words, pictures have concepts behind them. Like conceptual analysis, system thinking is a cognitive activity. System thinking uses concepts to understand referent system in surrounding. In mental model, which is a typically conceptual model that contains intuitive sub-conceptual components, paradox, and language are inherent. References Hall, S. (2012). This means this, this means that. London: L. King Pub. Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline. New York: Doubleday/Currency. Sowa, J. F. (1984). Conceptual structures. Information processing in mind and machine. Addison-Wesley. Read More