Full Idea
Standard theories of meaning assume that all of our complex concepts can be analyzed into undecomposable primitives. …We assume that this is fundamentally mistaken.
Gist of Idea
We reject the standard view that all concepts are analyzable into primitive concepts
Source
G Lakoff / M Johnson (Metaphors We Live By [1980], 14)
A Reaction
If any concepts are primitive they are the universally familiar ones which arise from immediate experience, such as 'water', 'sky', 'tree', 'leg'. I don't think those can be 'analysed' into categories like 'liquid' or 'limb', or 'object'.
Book Reference
Lakoff,G/Johnson,M: 'Metaphors We Live By' [Chicago 2003], p.69