Samuel Guttenplan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280896
- eISBN:
- 9780191602627
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280894.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Objects of Metaphor offers a philosophical account of the phenomenon of metaphor which is radically different from others in the literature. Yet for all its difference, the underlying ...
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Objects of Metaphor offers a philosophical account of the phenomenon of metaphor which is radically different from others in the literature. Yet for all its difference, the underlying rationale of the account is genuinely ecumenical. If one adopts its perspective, one should be able to understand the substantial correctness of many other accounts, while at the same time seeing why they are not in the end completely correct. The origins of the account lie in an examination of the conception of predication. Unreflectively thought of as a task accomplished by words, it is argued that predication, or something very much like it, can also be accomplished by non-word objects (‘objects’ here include events, states of affairs, situations, actions and the like). Liberated in this way from words, predication becomes one central element in the account of metaphor. The other element is the move from language to objects which, adapting an idea of Quine’s, is thought of as the limiting case of semantic descent. Whilst the Objects of Metaphor account presents other accounts in a new light, its main importance lies in what it says about metaphor itself. Powerful and flexible enough to cope with the syntactic complexity typical of genuine metaphor, it offers novel conceptions of both the relationship between simile and metaphor and the notion of dead metaphor. Additionally, it shows why metaphor is a robust theoretic kind, related to other tropes such as synecdoche and metonymy, but not to be confused with tropes generally, or with the figurative and non-literal.Less
Objects of Metaphor offers a philosophical account of the phenomenon of metaphor which is radically different from others in the literature. Yet for all its difference, the underlying rationale of the account is genuinely ecumenical. If one adopts its perspective, one should be able to understand the substantial correctness of many other accounts, while at the same time seeing why they are not in the end completely correct. The origins of the account lie in an examination of the conception of predication. Unreflectively thought of as a task accomplished by words, it is argued that predication, or something very much like it, can also be accomplished by non-word objects (‘objects’ here include events, states of affairs, situations, actions and the like). Liberated in this way from words, predication becomes one central element in the account of metaphor. The other element is the move from language to objects which, adapting an idea of Quine’s, is thought of as the limiting case of semantic descent. Whilst the Objects of Metaphor account presents other accounts in a new light, its main importance lies in what it says about metaphor itself. Powerful and flexible enough to cope with the syntactic complexity typical of genuine metaphor, it offers novel conceptions of both the relationship between simile and metaphor and the notion of dead metaphor. Additionally, it shows why metaphor is a robust theoretic kind, related to other tropes such as synecdoche and metonymy, but not to be confused with tropes generally, or with the figurative and non-literal.
Jonardon Ganeri
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202416
- eISBN:
- 9780191708558
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202416.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter looks at the early Buddhist dialogues, the Nikāya. It explores the nature of the Buddha's teaching methods, the simile of the raft and the snake, and the Buddha's silences. It begins to ...
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This chapter looks at the early Buddhist dialogues, the Nikāya. It explores the nature of the Buddha's teaching methods, the simile of the raft and the snake, and the Buddha's silences. It begins to investigate the distinction between the two truths, as well as the relation between these and the four noble truths.Less
This chapter looks at the early Buddhist dialogues, the Nikāya. It explores the nature of the Buddha's teaching methods, the simile of the raft and the snake, and the Buddha's silences. It begins to investigate the distinction between the two truths, as well as the relation between these and the four noble truths.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199739998
- eISBN:
- 9780199895045
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739998.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter offers a modern restatement of Aristotle's notion that there is no fundamental difference in the figurative force of metaphors and similes. This is commonly called the elliptical simile ...
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This chapter offers a modern restatement of Aristotle's notion that there is no fundamental difference in the figurative force of metaphors and similes. This is commonly called the elliptical simile view of metaphors. This chapter replaces the notion of an elliptical simile with the wider notion of a figurative comparison. On this approach, both metaphors and similes are taken to be figurative comparisons. This squares with Aristotle's view that the difference between the two is trifling.Less
This chapter offers a modern restatement of Aristotle's notion that there is no fundamental difference in the figurative force of metaphors and similes. This is commonly called the elliptical simile view of metaphors. This chapter replaces the notion of an elliptical simile with the wider notion of a figurative comparison. On this approach, both metaphors and similes are taken to be figurative comparisons. This squares with Aristotle's view that the difference between the two is trifling.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199739998
- eISBN:
- 9780199895045
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739998.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their ...
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Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their attraction. Building on the ideas of Paul Grice and Amos Tversky, this work shows how figurative language derives its power from its insistence that the reader participate in the text, looking beyond the literal meaning of the figurative language to the meanings that are implied. With examples ranging from Shakespeare, John Donne, and Jane Austen to e.e. cummings, Bessie Smith, and Monty Python, this work shows that the intellectual and aesthetic force of figurative language is not derived from inherent magical power, but instead from the opportunity it provides for unlimited elaboration in the hands of those gifted in its use. A distinctive feature of this work is that it presents a modern restatement of the view, first put forward by Aristotle, that metaphors are to be treated as elliptical similes. In a generalized form, this restatement of the Aristotelian view treats both metaphors and similes (and a number of other tropes) as figurative comparisons. The book then offers a detailed defense of this “comparativist” view of metaphors in response to the almost universal rejection of it by eminent philosophers. This new edition has extended the notion of figurative comparisons to cover synecdoche. It also ventures into new territory by considering two genres, fables and satires.Less
Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their attraction. Building on the ideas of Paul Grice and Amos Tversky, this work shows how figurative language derives its power from its insistence that the reader participate in the text, looking beyond the literal meaning of the figurative language to the meanings that are implied. With examples ranging from Shakespeare, John Donne, and Jane Austen to e.e. cummings, Bessie Smith, and Monty Python, this work shows that the intellectual and aesthetic force of figurative language is not derived from inherent magical power, but instead from the opportunity it provides for unlimited elaboration in the hands of those gifted in its use. A distinctive feature of this work is that it presents a modern restatement of the view, first put forward by Aristotle, that metaphors are to be treated as elliptical similes. In a generalized form, this restatement of the Aristotelian view treats both metaphors and similes (and a number of other tropes) as figurative comparisons. The book then offers a detailed defense of this “comparativist” view of metaphors in response to the almost universal rejection of it by eminent philosophers. This new edition has extended the notion of figurative comparisons to cover synecdoche. It also ventures into new territory by considering two genres, fables and satires.
Christopher Ricks
- Published in print:
- 1978
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198120902
- eISBN:
- 9780191671289
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198120902.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Milton Studies
This chapter evaluates the Miltonic Simile. It explains that it may first seem that a particular simile has no special point to make — but again and again it shows that it anticipates a later ...
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This chapter evaluates the Miltonic Simile. It explains that it may first seem that a particular simile has no special point to make — but again and again it shows that it anticipates a later development of the fable. It notes that in order to appreciate many of Milton's similes, it is important to bring the while of the story, not just the immediate moment, to bear on it. It then demonstrates how the eighteenth century debate about similes went through the assessments of Addison.Less
This chapter evaluates the Miltonic Simile. It explains that it may first seem that a particular simile has no special point to make — but again and again it shows that it anticipates a later development of the fable. It notes that in order to appreciate many of Milton's similes, it is important to bring the while of the story, not just the immediate moment, to bear on it. It then demonstrates how the eighteenth century debate about similes went through the assessments of Addison.
Doreen Innes
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199240050
- eISBN:
- 9780191716850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199240050.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter gives a detailed survey of surviving ancient discussions of metaphor, simile, and allegory as ‘non-literal’ tropes of ornamentation. The absence of metaphor and simile from Horace’s ...
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This chapter gives a detailed survey of surviving ancient discussions of metaphor, simile, and allegory as ‘non-literal’ tropes of ornamentation. The absence of metaphor and simile from Horace’s discussions of literary style is raised as a puzzle, and explained by Horace’s wish to avoid hackneyed theory in favour of practical exemplification.Less
This chapter gives a detailed survey of surviving ancient discussions of metaphor, simile, and allegory as ‘non-literal’ tropes of ornamentation. The absence of metaphor and simile from Horace’s discussions of literary style is raised as a puzzle, and explained by Horace’s wish to avoid hackneyed theory in favour of practical exemplification.
Cornelia Pearsall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195150544
- eISBN:
- 9780199871124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195150544.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that ...
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Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that dramatic monologists are highly purposeful in their speech, employing sophisticated rhetorical strategies in order to effect political and personal transformation, or “rapture.” The author divides Chapter One into two major sections. The first section, “Poetics: Persuasive Similitude,” offers a new approach to reading all Victorian dramatic monologues, identifying the trope of simile as a defining element of the genre, and arguing that monologists seek to perform a range of acts by way of their speech. The second section, “Politics: Whig Poetics,” details the relevance of Britain’s Whig Party and the furor surrounding the passage of the 1832 Reform Bill to Tennyson’s poetic development. Pearsall illuminates the ways in which Tennyson’s Whig political views were influenced by Arthur Henry Hallam, and helped shape his poetry both thematically and formally.Less
Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that dramatic monologists are highly purposeful in their speech, employing sophisticated rhetorical strategies in order to effect political and personal transformation, or “rapture.” The author divides Chapter One into two major sections. The first section, “Poetics: Persuasive Similitude,” offers a new approach to reading all Victorian dramatic monologues, identifying the trope of simile as a defining element of the genre, and arguing that monologists seek to perform a range of acts by way of their speech. The second section, “Politics: Whig Poetics,” details the relevance of Britain’s Whig Party and the furor surrounding the passage of the 1832 Reform Bill to Tennyson’s poetic development. Pearsall illuminates the ways in which Tennyson’s Whig political views were influenced by Arthur Henry Hallam, and helped shape his poetry both thematically and formally.
M. L. West
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280759
- eISBN:
- 9780191712913
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280759.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses the characteristic features of Indo-European poetry. Poets who write in a tradition — having been trained in the style and techniques proper to that tradition — do not strive ...
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This chapter discusses the characteristic features of Indo-European poetry. Poets who write in a tradition — having been trained in the style and techniques proper to that tradition — do not strive for novelty of manner. They take over vocabulary, formulaic phrases, and typical expressions from older poets, and their language in general tends to have a more archaic appearance than that of contemporary speech. Two further features characteristic of Indo-European poetry, both of them favoured by the nature of the ancient language, are modification of word order and the use of formal figures of speech of various kinds. Vocabulary and phraseology, narrative gambits, similes, and figures are discussed.Less
This chapter discusses the characteristic features of Indo-European poetry. Poets who write in a tradition — having been trained in the style and techniques proper to that tradition — do not strive for novelty of manner. They take over vocabulary, formulaic phrases, and typical expressions from older poets, and their language in general tends to have a more archaic appearance than that of contemporary speech. Two further features characteristic of Indo-European poetry, both of them favoured by the nature of the ancient language, are modification of word order and the use of formal figures of speech of various kinds. Vocabulary and phraseology, narrative gambits, similes, and figures are discussed.
M. L. West
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280759
- eISBN:
- 9780191712913
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280759.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, ...
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This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, speeches, similes, and the hero's funeral.Less
This chapter discusses depictions of heroic activity in battle in Indo-European tradition. Topics covered include the war-band, strongholds, the hero as warrior, weapons, horses, battle narratives, speeches, similes, and the hero's funeral.
Katja Maria Vogt
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199916818
- eISBN:
- 9780199980291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916818.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
In Plato's Republic, knowledge and doxa have their own respective domains: “what is” in the case of knowledge, and “what participates in what is and in what is not” in the case of doxa. This division ...
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In Plato's Republic, knowledge and doxa have their own respective domains: “what is” in the case of knowledge, and “what participates in what is and in what is not” in the case of doxa. This division should be recognized as a central part of Plato's proposal in the Republic. At the same time it cannot be quite as clear-cut as it might initially appear. Otherwise it should be impossible to begin to investigate justice by thinking through someone's beliefs about justice—and that is precisely what the interlocutors do in Book I. Notably, Socrates is not prepared to put forward his beliefs about justice. Staying true to the intuition that mere doxa is “shameful and ugly,” he prefers hypotheses and similes as methods of investigation. But others are less cautious. An interpretation of the Republic's epistemology must account for an, albeit deficient, way in which mere doxa can relate to objects of knowledge.Less
In Plato's Republic, knowledge and doxa have their own respective domains: “what is” in the case of knowledge, and “what participates in what is and in what is not” in the case of doxa. This division should be recognized as a central part of Plato's proposal in the Republic. At the same time it cannot be quite as clear-cut as it might initially appear. Otherwise it should be impossible to begin to investigate justice by thinking through someone's beliefs about justice—and that is precisely what the interlocutors do in Book I. Notably, Socrates is not prepared to put forward his beliefs about justice. Staying true to the intuition that mere doxa is “shameful and ugly,” he prefers hypotheses and similes as methods of investigation. But others are less cautious. An interpretation of the Republic's epistemology must account for an, albeit deficient, way in which mere doxa can relate to objects of knowledge.
Oliver Taplin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199298266
- eISBN:
- 9780191711602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298266.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter opens up a dialogue between recent scholarship on Homeric similes, and the creative use of these similes in the poetry of Christopher Logue, Michael Longley, and Derek Walcott. In its ...
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This chapter opens up a dialogue between recent scholarship on Homeric similes, and the creative use of these similes in the poetry of Christopher Logue, Michael Longley, and Derek Walcott. In its reading of the modern poems, it analyzes how the Homeric simile is used to map the distance between Homeric epic and 20th-century poetry. Similes are among the most memorable features of Homeric epic: the chapter argues that their expressive force derives as much from their dissimilarity to the main narrative as from the parallels that they suggest. It demonstrates how Logue and Longley exploit this aspect of the Homeric simile in order to express their difference from, as well as their affinity with, Homer. In the case of Walcott, it discusses Walcott's sparing but striking use of Homeric similes, which simultaneously master the form while also signalling ambivalence about the poem's relationship with Homeric epic.Less
This chapter opens up a dialogue between recent scholarship on Homeric similes, and the creative use of these similes in the poetry of Christopher Logue, Michael Longley, and Derek Walcott. In its reading of the modern poems, it analyzes how the Homeric simile is used to map the distance between Homeric epic and 20th-century poetry. Similes are among the most memorable features of Homeric epic: the chapter argues that their expressive force derives as much from their dissimilarity to the main narrative as from the parallels that they suggest. It demonstrates how Logue and Longley exploit this aspect of the Homeric simile in order to express their difference from, as well as their affinity with, Homer. In the case of Walcott, it discusses Walcott's sparing but striking use of Homeric similes, which simultaneously master the form while also signalling ambivalence about the poem's relationship with Homeric epic.
David Langslow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600755
- eISBN:
- 9780191738791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600755.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic ...
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This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic historians; and, secondly, of the influence of Latin on his Greek syntax and vocabulary. It suggests on the strength of examples and case studies a series of working hypotheses for further investigation, including the following: that Polybius' use of (near)synonyms is less haphazard than is often supposed; that his similes and metaphors contain further evidence of his natural fondness for everyday language; and that, notwithstanding the last, he may occasionally use syntax or vocabulary to allude to a famous predecessor historian.Less
This chapter undertakes a provisional reassessment, first, of Polybius' Greek against nine syntactic/stylistic features, comparing his usage with that of both classical and later Hellenistic historians; and, secondly, of the influence of Latin on his Greek syntax and vocabulary. It suggests on the strength of examples and case studies a series of working hypotheses for further investigation, including the following: that Polybius' use of (near)synonyms is less haphazard than is often supposed; that his similes and metaphors contain further evidence of his natural fondness for everyday language; and that, notwithstanding the last, he may occasionally use syntax or vocabulary to allude to a famous predecessor historian.
Samuel Guttenplan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280896
- eISBN:
- 9780191602627
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280894.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
The Semantic Descent account is extended to realistically complex examples, both in terms of syntactic complexity and vividness. A detailed treatment of a wide range of examples is followed by ...
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The Semantic Descent account is extended to realistically complex examples, both in terms of syntactic complexity and vividness. A detailed treatment of a wide range of examples is followed by discussions of phenomena such as dead metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, mixed and extended metaphor, as well as observations about the relationship between synaesthesia and metaphor, the robustness of metaphor as a theoretical kind, the so-called ‘cognitive’ account of metaphor and visual metaphor.Less
The Semantic Descent account is extended to realistically complex examples, both in terms of syntactic complexity and vividness. A detailed treatment of a wide range of examples is followed by discussions of phenomena such as dead metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, mixed and extended metaphor, as well as observations about the relationship between synaesthesia and metaphor, the robustness of metaphor as a theoretical kind, the so-called ‘cognitive’ account of metaphor and visual metaphor.
Samuel Guttenplan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280896
- eISBN:
- 9780191602627
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280894.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Three recent and important accounts of metaphor are discussed in detail. These are: Stern’s Demonstrative account, White’s Conflated Sentence account, and Fogelin’s Simile account. What is right and ...
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Three recent and important accounts of metaphor are discussed in detail. These are: Stern’s Demonstrative account, White’s Conflated Sentence account, and Fogelin’s Simile account. What is right and wrong with these accounts can best be understood from the perspective of the Semantic Descent account, and the materials in this chapter provide some indirect further support for this account.Less
Three recent and important accounts of metaphor are discussed in detail. These are: Stern’s Demonstrative account, White’s Conflated Sentence account, and Fogelin’s Simile account. What is right and wrong with these accounts can best be understood from the perspective of the Semantic Descent account, and the materials in this chapter provide some indirect further support for this account.
Chana Kronfeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804782951
- eISBN:
- 9780804797214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804782951.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
Metaphor embodies Amichai's principle of “in-between-ness” and has a significance within his poetic system that far exceeds the rhetorical. Chapter Five focuses on metaphor as the central marker of ...
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Metaphor embodies Amichai's principle of “in-between-ness” and has a significance within his poetic system that far exceeds the rhetorical. Chapter Five focuses on metaphor as the central marker of liminality, the hyphen of survival and resistance: it must never erase that hyphen, the marker of the disparate domains which it brings together (hence his preference for simile), even while it strives to make the gap between these domains productive of meaning. The ways Amichai's metaphors resist the erasure of difference critiques the vestiges of poststructuralist views, and offer an alternative model based on a historicized, context-sensitive reworking of prototype semantics. Amichai's images, while as novel and surprising as those of any 17th-century metaphysical poet, nevertheless strike us as completely “right,” as visually and experientially familiar, because of their perceptually primary basis and the extensive and rigorous mapping they provide for the distant source and target domains.Less
Metaphor embodies Amichai's principle of “in-between-ness” and has a significance within his poetic system that far exceeds the rhetorical. Chapter Five focuses on metaphor as the central marker of liminality, the hyphen of survival and resistance: it must never erase that hyphen, the marker of the disparate domains which it brings together (hence his preference for simile), even while it strives to make the gap between these domains productive of meaning. The ways Amichai's metaphors resist the erasure of difference critiques the vestiges of poststructuralist views, and offer an alternative model based on a historicized, context-sensitive reworking of prototype semantics. Amichai's images, while as novel and surprising as those of any 17th-century metaphysical poet, nevertheless strike us as completely “right,” as visually and experientially familiar, because of their perceptually primary basis and the extensive and rigorous mapping they provide for the distant source and target domains.
EVA FEDER KITTAY
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198242468
- eISBN:
- 9780191680472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198242468.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind
Since writers began to concern themselves with the topic, it has been recognised that a metaphor is a displaced sign. Few writers nowadays take metaphors to be names, most identify the metaphorical ...
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Since writers began to concern themselves with the topic, it has been recognised that a metaphor is a displaced sign. Few writers nowadays take metaphors to be names, most identify the metaphorical unit as the sentence. Some writers have objected to the notion of metaphor as a displacement on the ground that it makes metaphor appear to be anomalous when instead it has to be recognised as an integral feature of natural language. However, even these types of writers find it hard to avoid speaking of metaphor as some sort of transference of meaning. This idea leads to several philosophical inquiries, whether such transference of meaning serves a cognitive end, and this is explored in most parts of this chapter.Less
Since writers began to concern themselves with the topic, it has been recognised that a metaphor is a displaced sign. Few writers nowadays take metaphors to be names, most identify the metaphorical unit as the sentence. Some writers have objected to the notion of metaphor as a displacement on the ground that it makes metaphor appear to be anomalous when instead it has to be recognised as an integral feature of natural language. However, even these types of writers find it hard to avoid speaking of metaphor as some sort of transference of meaning. This idea leads to several philosophical inquiries, whether such transference of meaning serves a cognitive end, and this is explored in most parts of this chapter.
L. Jonathan Cohen
- Published in print:
- 1977
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198244127
- eISBN:
- 9780191680748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198244127.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
This chapter investigates the grading of inductive probability. It first evaluates the relation between inductive support and inductive probability. In the assessment of an inductive probability, ...
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This chapter investigates the grading of inductive probability. It first evaluates the relation between inductive support and inductive probability. In the assessment of an inductive probability, favourable and unfavourable circumstances may be balanced off against one another. A tree-structure simile is available. Uncounteracted favourable evidence raises the inductive probability of a proposition, but uncounteracted unfavourable evidence reduces it to zero — which is not at all the same as making the proposition's negation certain. A statement of the inductive probability of S on R may be construed as grading the informativeness (what Keynes called the weight) of R in favour of S. If R states all the relevant evidence known and the inductive probability of S on R is high enough, it may be reasonable to believe that S is true, but one cannot detach here a monadic, unconditional grading for the inductive probability of S.Less
This chapter investigates the grading of inductive probability. It first evaluates the relation between inductive support and inductive probability. In the assessment of an inductive probability, favourable and unfavourable circumstances may be balanced off against one another. A tree-structure simile is available. Uncounteracted favourable evidence raises the inductive probability of a proposition, but uncounteracted unfavourable evidence reduces it to zero — which is not at all the same as making the proposition's negation certain. A statement of the inductive probability of S on R may be construed as grading the informativeness (what Keynes called the weight) of R in favour of S. If R states all the relevant evidence known and the inductive probability of S on R is high enough, it may be reasonable to believe that S is true, but one cannot detach here a monadic, unconditional grading for the inductive probability of S.
Matthew Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605712
- eISBN:
- 9780191731617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605712.003.0019
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Pope, too, was swept away by a text he was translating: not a romance, but the Iliad. The passion that affected him was primarily heroic rather than amorous, and is figured (after Boileau's ...
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Pope, too, was swept away by a text he was translating: not a romance, but the Iliad. The passion that affected him was primarily heroic rather than amorous, and is figured (after Boileau's translation of Longinus (1674)) as the spreading of sublime ‘fire’. This metaphor of translation is evident in particular stylistic features such as the ‘super‐adding’ of similes; as we have come to expect it grows in complexity when Pope is translating moments in the source when warriors give fiery inspiration to one another. For Pope, the massacres of the Iliad find a miniature echo in his own self‐abnegation when he translates.Less
Pope, too, was swept away by a text he was translating: not a romance, but the Iliad. The passion that affected him was primarily heroic rather than amorous, and is figured (after Boileau's translation of Longinus (1674)) as the spreading of sublime ‘fire’. This metaphor of translation is evident in particular stylistic features such as the ‘super‐adding’ of similes; as we have come to expect it grows in complexity when Pope is translating moments in the source when warriors give fiery inspiration to one another. For Pope, the massacres of the Iliad find a miniature echo in his own self‐abnegation when he translates.
C. D. C. Reeve
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199934430
- eISBN:
- 9780199980659
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199934430.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
In Republic 2, Glaucon and Adeimantus want to be shown that justice pays higher eudaimonistic dividends to the individual who has it in his soul than does injustice. Yet Glaucon later worries that ...
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In Republic 2, Glaucon and Adeimantus want to be shown that justice pays higher eudaimonistic dividends to the individual who has it in his soul than does injustice. Yet Glaucon later worries that precisely because philosophers have just souls they will consent to rule Kallipolis, even though they will “live a worse life when they could lead a better one” as a result. This chapter explains how Glaucon’s worries are resolved. It includes a new reading of the ship-of-state simile from Book 6 whose relevance to Glaucon’s worries has previously gone unnoticed.Less
In Republic 2, Glaucon and Adeimantus want to be shown that justice pays higher eudaimonistic dividends to the individual who has it in his soul than does injustice. Yet Glaucon later worries that precisely because philosophers have just souls they will consent to rule Kallipolis, even though they will “live a worse life when they could lead a better one” as a result. This chapter explains how Glaucon’s worries are resolved. It includes a new reading of the ship-of-state simile from Book 6 whose relevance to Glaucon’s worries has previously gone unnoticed.
Alf Gabrielsson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695225
- eISBN:
- 9780191729775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695225.003.0036
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Social Psychology
It has often been said — by musicians, philosophers, writers, and others — that words do not suffice to describe how one experiences music, music goes beyond words, ‘music starts where words come to ...
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It has often been said — by musicians, philosophers, writers, and others — that words do not suffice to describe how one experiences music, music goes beyond words, ‘music starts where words come to an end’. That notion is also found among many of this book's narrators. They say that they can't find words that cover what they have experienced; the experience is — or certain parts of it are — indescribable. One possibility is to make use of metaphors or similes, that is, one refers to other phenomena that in some way are similar to or mirror what one experiences. About 100 narrators (approximately 10% of the participants) have made use of metaphors or similes. Most of these cases are reproduced here in the form of short quotes from the accounts concerned. They are, thus, taken out of their context, but there is a reference to the corresponding complete account. This chapter begins with metaphors and similes with regard to the actual music or performance; then metaphors and similes that concern experiences in connection with listening; performance and composition. Finally, there is a summary of the phenomena that have occurred in the metaphors and similes.Less
It has often been said — by musicians, philosophers, writers, and others — that words do not suffice to describe how one experiences music, music goes beyond words, ‘music starts where words come to an end’. That notion is also found among many of this book's narrators. They say that they can't find words that cover what they have experienced; the experience is — or certain parts of it are — indescribable. One possibility is to make use of metaphors or similes, that is, one refers to other phenomena that in some way are similar to or mirror what one experiences. About 100 narrators (approximately 10% of the participants) have made use of metaphors or similes. Most of these cases are reproduced here in the form of short quotes from the accounts concerned. They are, thus, taken out of their context, but there is a reference to the corresponding complete account. This chapter begins with metaphors and similes with regard to the actual music or performance; then metaphors and similes that concern experiences in connection with listening; performance and composition. Finally, there is a summary of the phenomena that have occurred in the metaphors and similes.
