Abstract
Within Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotical theory, twodifferent kinds of creative metaphorical reasoning inscience can be identified. One of these, the buildingof remainder metaphors, is especially important forcreating new scientific models. We show that theconveyor belt metaphor provides an excellent examplefor Peirce's theory. The conveyor belt metaphor hasrecently been invented in order to describe theoceanic transport system. The paradigm of the oceanicconveyor belt strongly influenced the geosciencecommunity and the climate change discussion. Afteridentifying structures of metaphorical reasoning inscience (section 2), these structures are examined insection 3 for the conveyor belt metaphor in the fieldof oceanography. Finally, concluding remarks are givenin section 4.
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Brüning, R., Lohmann, G. Charles S. Peirce on Creative Metaphor: A Case Study on the Conveyor Belt Metaphor in Oceanography. Foundations of Science 4, 389–403 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009639700707
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009639700707