[DMB] For centuries, metaphor was just the place where poets went to show off. But in their 1980 book, Metaphors We Live By, the linguist George Lakoff (at the University of California at Berkeley) and the philosopher Mark Johnson (now at the University of Oregon) revolutionized linguistics by showing that metaphor is actually a fundamental constituent of language.
[Arlo] You should definitely check out Mark Johnson's "Philosophical Perspectives on Metaphor". And, relatedly, Carl Hausman's "The Creativity Question" (Hausman is both a Peircian and a Metaphorician, and from Penn State (although Emeritus now)). The overarching theme for Johnson and Hausman (and Lakoff) is that "metaphor is art"; there is, at its core, an 'indefinable' nature. Hausman called it the 'wellspring through which the indefinable enters the definable world' (Johnson and Lakoff would, no doubt, agree). [DMB] I think their work might also support Pirsig's assertion that the levels have a matter-of-fact-evolutionary relationship, specifically the connections between the biological and social levels such that the structure of the body (matter) shapes the structures of thought (mind). [Arlo] Absolutely. There is growing research on this. "Body metaphors: reading the body in contemporary culture" by Danica Skara (http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/44018) is an interesting read, and it draws from Lakoff and Johnson's book "Philosophy in the Flesh. The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought". Another interesting note about this, specifically Lakoff's work, is that cultural metaphors shape our activity in ways we are often unaware of. His classic example is "argument is war". In English, this cultural metaphor informs the way we frame, and think about, 'argument'. He states these examples: Your claims are indefensible. He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target. I demolished his argument. I've never won an argument with him. You disagree? Okay, shoot! If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out. He shot down all of my arguments. "Time is money" is another. His basic thesis is summarized here: http://theliterarylink.com/metaphors.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
