Towards grasping the unknowable: Networked heirarchies of analogies

This paper investigates the purposeful use of analogy in teaching and learning rather than how analogy works as a neuro-cognitive activity. Nonetheless, we shall make some reference to mental processing in order to support our proposals. The use of the word purposeful in this context is taken to mean that analogies are educationally most fruitful in specific contexts. Further, it assumes that an analogy has an optimal potency, which diminishes or increases in relation to complexity and relevance. In turn, this suggests that analogies have inherent disposability, or rather, we suggest, a range of references or applicability. We discuss the notion of a hierarchy of disparate analogies to describe a single instance or event and conclude that because of the capacity to move non-linearly amongst analogies, it is more profitable to refer to a network of analogies that allow specifically purposeful understandings of a fundamentally unknowable concept. In conclusion we suggest that the cognitive strategy that drives the movement within the network is contextually-bound functionalism.

Key Phrase: Analogy, Networks, Cognitive Strategies