And I think the biggest picture of all would take seriously the fact that so much of our verbiage about abstract events is based on a concrete metaphor and see human intelligence itself as consisting of a repertoire of concepts -- such as objects, space, time, causation and intention -- which are useful in a social, knowledge-intensive species, whose evolution you can well imagine, and a process of metaphorical abstraction that allows us to bleach these concepts of their original conceptual content -- space, time and force -- and apply them to new abstract domains, therefore allowing a species that evolved to deal with rocks and tools and animals, to conceptualize mathematics, physics, law and other abstract domains.
Si cred ca cea mai completa imagine ar lua in serios faptul ca o mare parte din limbajul pe care-l folosim cand vorbim despre evenimente abstracte se bazeza pe o metafora concreta. Am vedea inteligenta umana insasi ca fiind formata dintr-un repertoriu de concepte -- ca de exemplu obiecte, spatiu, timp, cauza si intentie -- ce sunt utile speciilor sociale, care au nevoie de informatie, a caror evolutie v-o puteti imagina cu usurinta, si dintr-un proces de abstractie metaforica care ne permite sa curatam aceste concepte de continutul conceptual initial -- spatiu, timp si forta -- si sa le aplicam unor noi domenii abstracte, ca urmare permitand unei specii evoluate sa se foloseasca de pietre, de unelte si de animale, sa conceptualizeze matematica, fizica, dreptul si alte domenii abstracte.