Metaphors for Metaphors

Abstract

This paper rises the issue of how the concept of metaphor is understood in three views of linguistics and/or philosophical theorizing of metaphor. The theories to be considered are: the interaction theory (as represented by Black 1993). The pragmatic theory (as discursed by Searle 1993) and the cognitivist theory (as elaborated by Lakoff and Johnson 1980 and Lakoff 1993). The paper goes even further by taking into consideration the metaphorical ways in which the different authors talk about metaphor. The main findings of the study are the following: scientific language is deeply metaphorical; despite the radically different views on metaphor apressed by the three schools, the metaphorical ways of dealing with metaphor is strikingly similar; and the methods used in cognitive linguistics prove successful even on this metalinguistic level.