Lakoff's Theory of Invariance

Lakoff's Theory of Invariance suggests that our understanding of metaphors remains consistent across different contexts and languages because they are rooted in our embodied experiences. Essentially, our brains map familiar physical sensations—like warmth, balance, or movement—onto abstract ideas such as love, fairness, or progress. This mapping stays stable ("invariant") even when these metaphors are used in various ways in language and thought. So, our conceptual system relies on these consistent, embodied metaphors to help us comprehend complex or abstract concepts through more tangible, everyday experiences.