25 1. Theoretical Background: Cognitive Semantics Apart from the constitutive principles discussed above, blending theory theorists propose several governing principles of conceptual integration, such as The Topology Principle, The Pattern Completion Principle, The Integration Principle, The Maximization of Vital Relations Principle, The Intensification of Vital Relations Principle, The Web Principle, The Unpacking Principle, and The Compression Principle, which are discussed at length in Fauconnier and Turner (2002: Ch. 16) and Turner (2007). Constitutive and governing principles operate over Vital Relations (such as Change, Identity, Time, Space, Cause–Effect, Part–Whole, Representation, Role, Analogy, Disanalogy, Property, Similarity, Category, Intentionality, and Uniqueness) which obtain between and within mental spaces in the network. The overarching goal of blending created by the constitutive and governing principles is “Achieving Human Scale.” As Turner puts it, The most obvious human-scale situations have direct perception and action in familiar frames that are easily apprehended by human beings: an object falls, someone lifts an object, two people converse, one person goes somewhere, and so on. They typically have direct intentionality, very few participants, and immediate bodily effect. They are immediately apprehended as coherent. […] To achieve a human-scale blend often requires imaginative transformations of elements and structure in an integration network as they are projected to the blend. There are several subgoals: Compress what is diffuse, Obtain global insight, Strengthen vital relations, Come up with a story, Go from many to one. (Turner 2007: 383) As we demonstrate later, these transformations are very important in the evolutionary theory and discourse. Fauconnier and Turner (2002: 120–135) propose four kinds of integration networks. The first, the simplex network, involves frame-to-values connections. In input one there is a frame (e.g. family with roles such father, daughter, sister, etc.) and in input two there are elements/values (such as individual human beings: Paul and Sally). The blended space contains the structure of the frame integrated with the elements from input two (such as Paul–father of Sally). The second, a mirror network, “is a kind of integration network in which all spaces – inputs, generic, and blend – share an organizing frame” (Fauconnier & Turner 2002: 123). An organizing frame provides a topology for the space it organizes, that is, it specifies the nature of the relevant activity, events and participants. Examples of organizing frames include a boat sailing along an ocean course, coming from the analyzed Regatta network (Fauconnier & Turner 2002: 63) or a philosopher musing
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