Metaphors: Figures of the Mind

The basic theme of Metaphors: Figures of the Mind is contained in the formula that metaphoric language reflects the functioning of our thought processes. Thus, the author of this book uses language analysis as a medium through which we can perceive and analyze the way our mind functions. Results of the investigation point to the conclusion that the mind does not operate according to the representations of a logical-positivistically oriented theorist; the forms of language usage and mental mechanisms involved manifest ubiquitous nonliteralness. However, an overall metaphorical detour from the literal one-to-one correspondence is not for the sake of figurative fancy but is primarily for the purpose of achieving new significations. In such a context, that which is habitually considered to be ambiguous, vague and indeterminate, becomes a productive source of semantic creation which can often specify meaning in a more adequate way than literalness does. Metaphor emerges as a cognitive tool. It appears as an efficacious means of description and explanation, of heuristics and learning, and, as a final instance, an instrument of `worldmaking'. Bearing in mind the profound significance of the `metaphorical turn', one can extend a conventional string of definitions with an additional characterization of a human being as a `metaphorical animal'.