Editing George Lakoff (section)

{{Short description|American linguist (born 1941)}}
{{use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = George Lakoff
| image             = George Lakoff.jpg
| caption           = Lakoff, 2012
| birth_name        = George Philip Lakoff
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1941|05|24}}
| birth_place       = [[Bayonne, New Jersey]], U.S.
| fields            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Cognitive linguistics]]
* [[Cognitive science]]
}}
| workplaces        = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| alma_mater        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Indiana University]]
* [[MIT]]
}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Fred Householder]]
| known_for         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Conceptual metaphor|Conceptual metaphor theory]]
* [[Embodied cognition]]
}}
| spouse            = {{Plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Robin Lakoff]]|end=div.}}
* Kathleen Frumkin (current spouse)
}}
| website           = {{URL|https://george-lakoff.com/}}
}}

'''George Philip Lakoff''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|eɪ|k|ɒ|f}} {{respell|LAY|kof}}; born May 24, 1941) is an American [[cognitive linguistics|cognitive linguist]] and [[philosopher]], best known for his thesis that people's lives are significantly influenced by the [[conceptual metaphor]]s they use to explain complex phenomena.

The conceptual metaphor thesis, introduced in his and [[Mark Johnson (philosopher)|Mark Johnson]]'s 1980 book ''[[Metaphors We Live By]]'' has found applications in a number of academic disciplines. Applying it to politics, literature, philosophy and mathematics has led Lakoff into territory normally considered basic to [[political science]]. In his 1996 book ''[[Moral Politics]]'', Lakoff described [[Conservatism|conservative]] voters as being influenced by the "[[strict father model]]" as a central metaphor for such a complex phenomenon as the [[State (polity)|state]], and [[Liberalism|liberal]]/[[Progressivism|progressive]] voters as being influenced by the "[[nurturant parent model]]" as the [[folk psychology|folk psychological]] metaphor for this complex phenomenon. According to him, an individual's experience and attitude towards sociopolitical issues is influenced by being [[Framing (social sciences)|framed]] in [[Construction grammar|linguistic constructions]]. In ''Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Persian Gulf'' (1991), he argues that the American involvement in the [[Persian Gulf war|Persian Gulf War]] was obscured or "spun" by the metaphors which were used by the first [[George H. W. Bush|Bush]] administration to justify it.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite web
 |url= http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/Lakoff_Gulf_Metaphor_1.html
 |title= Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Gulf
 |last= Lakoff
 |first= George
 |author-link= George Lakoff
 |year= 1991
 |website= The Sixties Project
 |access-date= 2018-10-04
 |quote= The most natural way to justify a war on moral grounds is to fit this fairy tale structure to a given situation. This is done by metaphorical definition, that is, by answering the questions: Who is the victim? Who is the villain? Who is the hero? What is the crime? What counts as victory? Each set of answers provides a different filled-out scenario. [...] As the Persian gulf crisis developed, President Bush tried to justify going to war by the use of such a scenario. At first, he couldn't get his story straight. What happened was that he was using two different sets of metaphorical definitions, which resulted in two different scenarios [...].
}}
</ref> Between 2003 and 2008, Lakoff was involved with a [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] think tank, the now defunct [[Rockridge Institute]].<ref>{{cite web|title= George Lakoff |publisher= Rockridge Institute |url= http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/people/lakoff |access-date= 2007-06-13 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070611210922/http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/people/lakoff |archive-date= 2007-06-11 }}</ref><ref name="Moral Politics">{{cite book| last = Lakoff| first = George| title = Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think| publisher = The University of Chicago Press| year = 2002| location = Chicago| isbn = 0-226-46771-6| url = https://archive.org/details/moralpoliticswha00lako_0}}</ref>

Lakoff is a member of the scientific committee of the [[IDEAS Foundation for progress|Fundación IDEAS]] (IDEAS Foundation), Spain's [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party|Socialist Party]]'s think tank. The more general theory that elaborated his thesis is known as [[embodied philosophy|embodied mind]]. Lakoff served as a professor of linguistics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], from 1972 until his retirement in 2016.<ref>{{cite news|last1= White|first1= Daphne|title= Berkeley author George Lakoff says, 'Don't underestimate Trump'|url= http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/05/02/berkeley-author-george-lakoff-says-dont-underestimate-trump/|publisher= Berkeleyside.com|date= May 2, 2017}}
</ref> He was married to linguist [[Robin Lakoff]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lakoff |first=Robin Tolmach |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/9780520928077 |title=The Language War |date=2000-05-22 |publisher=University of California Press |doi=10.1525/9780520928077 |isbn=978-0-520-92807-7}}</ref>