From Kant's monogram to conceptual blending

Ruthrof, H. (2011) From Kant's monogram to conceptual blending. Philosophy Today, 55 (2). pp. 111-126.

Abstract

The authors do so by subdividing Vorstellungen into "mental spaces," interacting with one another in infinite variations. [...] grammatical entities such as if or maybe yield hypothetical or possible mental spaces, respectively. Since it rests on a pars pro toto fallacy, arbitrariness must be restricted to the signifier, restoring the signified to its proper status as motivated, which makes the linguistic sign as a whole into a partly arbitrary and partly motivated hybrid.