The aura of metaphor

Metaphors matter. They enliven our speech and our prose; they animate our arguments and stir our passions. Some metaphors power political movements; others propel scientific revolutions. These little figures of speech delight, provoke, captivate, shock, amuse, and galvanize us. In one way or another, metaphors just seem to help us make sense of a messy world. But how do they do all this? Whence their peculiar powers? What does it say about the human mind that we just can't escape our metaphors—and frankly don't want to?

My guest today is Dr. Stephen Flusberg. Steve is an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at Vassar College, where he directs the Framing, Reasoning, And Metaphor (FRAME) Lab.

Here, Steve and I talk about what metaphors are and why we're so drawn to them. We discuss some of the misleading ideas about metaphor you may remember from middle school literature class. We consider why some metaphors work and others flop. We talk about the metaphors we use for climate change and prevalence and potency of war metaphors across different realms of public discourse. We consider how metaphor operates in science and in scientific theorizing. Finally, we talk about the question of whether there are some ideas that we simply can't grasp literally, concepts we can only approach through metaphor.

Along the way, Steve and I talk about: "aura farming"; nautical metaphors and textile metaphors; the outmoded idea that metaphors are mere adornments; metaphor versus analogy; dead metaphors and how to resuscitate them; shadows and footprints; Dan Dennett's technique of metaphorical triangulation; and the brain-as-computer metaphor—and whether it is actually a metaphor.

Alright, friends this is a fun one. Steve has spent his entire career exploring this fascinating terrain—and, as you'll see, he's a lively and affable guide. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Steve Flusberg.

Notes

3:00 – For more on "beige flags," see here. For more on "aura farming," see here.

8:00 – For an overview of metaphor in communication and thought, see here for an article by Dr. Flusberg and co-authors.

18:00 – The "life is a journey" (or "career is a journey") metaphor—as well as other examples we discuss—are treated at length in the classic book, Metaphors We Live By.

24:00 – For a detailed academic treatment of the relationship between metaphor and analogy, see here.

32:00 – Some of the best-studied "orientational metaphors" are those found in the domain of time. See here and here.

37:00 – For more on metaphors used in discussions of environmental issues, see a paper by Dr. Flusberg and a colleague here.

42:00 – For more on the idea of the "climate shadow," see here.

46:00 – The study by Dr. Flusberg and colleagues comparing the effects of race and war metaphors for climate change.

55:00 – The article by Dr. Flusberg and colleagues on the role of war metaphors across different areas of public discourse.

1:04:00 – For an influential discussion of the role of metaphors and analogies in science, see here. For Kensy's take on Darwin's metaphors for natural selection, see here. For discussion of whether the "brain-as-computer" metaphor is actually a metaphor, see here and here.

1:12:00 – For more on the history of metaphors in the English language—including analyses of which source domains have historically been the most fruitful—see here.

1:14:00 – For discussion of the (disputed) idea of "dead metaphors," see here and here.

1:17:00 – The idea of "theory-constitutive metaphors" in science is discussed in a chapter by Richard Boyd in this book.

1:19:00 – For a preview of Dr. Flusberg's in-progress paper on the philosopher Daniel Dennett and his technique of "metaphorical triangulation," see here.

1:33:00 – For the (extremely short) Borges' story on maps that are too accurate to be useful, see here.

Recommendations

Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel Dennett

Three Sheets to the Wind, by Cynthia Barrett

Tile image credit: Image by J.W. Williams via the David Rumsey Map Collection

Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to Indiana University. The show is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd.

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