Tópicos (Nov 2013)

El saber de las metáforas

  • Daniel Innerarity

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v13i1.426
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 137 – 154

Abstract

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It is imposible to get rid of metaphors, as some modern philosophical schools wanted, and this makes possible to talk about a metaphorical conception of knowledge. Metaphors are not incomplete forms of rationality, nor prosthesis of thought that should be abandoned as soon as possible, nor are they previous attempts of an immature reason; they are an irreplaceable means for capturing contexts and relations, they are the fundamental element of rational discourse. Much is lost when pretending to express in a literal way what has been told by a metaphor, and the employment of metaphors is not to be considered something pathological but normal or natural in language. The contextual validity of a metaphor amongst another implies the modification of meaning whith the change of the context, and it possess a mediating function between the abstract or conceptual and the mundane or what belongs to life, thus expanding every comprehension.

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