Why many concepts are metaphorical

A reply to Gregory L. Murphy (1988 [see abstract 8902040]) regarding his arguments that metaphor has only a limited role in the acquisition & representation of many concepts. Demonstrating the uniqueness of metaphor in its uni-directionality, it is suggested that some version of metaphoric repre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition 1996-12, Vol.61 (3), p.309-319
Main Author: Gibbs, Raymond W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition
Communication disorders
Concept Formation
Conceptualization
Humans
Linguistics
Metaphor
Psycholinguistics
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Summary:A reply to Gregory L. Murphy (1988 [see abstract 8902040]) regarding his arguments that metaphor has only a limited role in the acquisition & representation of many concepts. Demonstrating the uniqueness of metaphor in its uni-directionality, it is suggested that some version of metaphoric representations is needed to account for the asymmetrical relationships between source & target domains. It is suggested that the idea of metaphoric representations be retained until psychologists embracing nonmetaphorical theories, eg, the structural similarity view, have demonstrated in detail that they can explain the linguistic evidence. Problematic for any adequate theory is its ability to account for multiple metaphors, which by their nature are dynamic, changing, & context-dependent. Rather than arguing against metaphoric representation, it is recommended that care is needed to develop appropriate experimental methodologies. 40 References. B. Gadalla
ISSN:0010-0277
1873-7838
DOI:10.1016/S0010-0277(96)00723-8