Skip to main content
Log in

The methodological significance of scientific metaphor

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Philosophy in China

Abstract

The essential significance of scientific metaphor lies in applying the general metaphorical theory to specific interpretations and elaborations of scientific theories to form a methodology of scientific explanation. It is a contextual grasp of objective reality. A given metaphorical context and its grasp of the essence of reality can only be valid when the context is continually restructured. Taking the context as a whole, the methodological characteristic of scientific metaphor lies in the unity of understanding and choice, experience and concepts, semantic structures and metaphorical domains, rationality and irrationality. As a form of thinking based on reasons, scientific metaphor plays an important role in invention, representation, explanation, evaluation, and communication.

摘要

科学隐喻的本质意义在于将一般的隐喻理论应用于科学理论的具体解释和说明中, 由此形成一种科学解释的方法论思想。 它是对客观实在的一种语境化把握, 只有语境的不断重构, 才能给定隐喻语境的存在及其把握实在本质的有效性。 科学隐喻的方法论特征表现为: 理解与选择、 经验与概念、 语义结构与隐喻域、 理性与非理性的统一。 作为一种有理由推理的思维形式, 科学隐喻具有发明、 表征、 说明、 评价及交流等方面的重要功能。

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbid M A, Hesse M B (1986). The Construction of Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R (1993). Metaphor and theory change. In: Ortony, ed. Metaphor and Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradie M (1984). The metaphorical character of science. Philosophia Naturalis, 21

  • Cooper D (1986). Metaphor. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson D (1984). Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Earl M (1985). A Cognitive Theory of Metaphor. Cambridge: The MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D (1982). Are scientific analogies metaphors? In: Metaphor: Problems and Perspectives. New York: Humanities Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Grice P (1975). Logic and conversation. In: Logic of Grammar. Dickenson Publishing Co., Inc.

  • Harre R (1986). Varieties of Realism. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse M (1980). Revolutions and Reconstructions in the Philosophy of Science. Indiana: Indiana University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman R (1989). Metaphor in science. In: Cognition and Figurative Language. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G (1980). Metaphor We Live By. Chicago: Chicago University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Nintikka J, ed (1994). Aspects of Metaphor. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publisher

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulaczewska H (1999). Aspects of Metaphor in Physics. Tübingen: Max Niemsyer Verlag Gmbl

    Google Scholar 

  • Radman Z (1997). Metaphor: Figures of the Mind. Bonton: Kluwer Academic Publisher

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricoeur P (1962). The Rule of Metaphor. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Rorty R (1979). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart D (1997). Explaining the Growth of Scientific Knowledge: Metaphors, Models, and Meanings. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle J (1993). Metaphor and Thought. Ortony A, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Stem J (2000). Metaphor in Content. Cambridge: The MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu Jiliang, ed (1991). Dangdai Meiguo Zhexue Lunzhu Xuanyi 当代美国哲学论著选译 (Selected Translations from Contemporary American Works of Philosophy). Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan

    Google Scholar 

  • White R M (1996). The Structure of Metaphor. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guo Guichun.

Additional information

Translated by Liu Yiyu from Zhongguo Shehui Kexue 中国社会科学 (Social Sciences in China), 2004, (2): 92–101

About this article

Cite this article

Guo, G. The methodological significance of scientific metaphor. Front. Philos. China 2, 437–453 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-007-0028-9

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-007-0028-9

Keywords

关键词

Navigation