Conceptual metaphor

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality (e.g. 'the price of peace is rising') or the understanding of time in terms of money (e.g. 'I spent time at work today'). In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality (e.g. 'the price of peace is rising') or the understanding of time in terms of money (e.g. 'I spent time at work today'). A conceptual domain can be any coherent organization of human experience. The regularity with which different languages employ the same metaphors, which often appear to be perceptually based, has led to the hypothesis that the mapping between conceptual domains corresponds to neural mappings in the brain. This theory has gained wide attention, although some researchers question its empirical accuracy. This idea, and a detailed examination of the underlying processes, was first extensively explored by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their work Metaphors We Live By in 1980. Since then, the field of metaphor studies within the larger discipline of cognitive linguistics has increasingly developed, with several, annual academic conferences, scholarly societies, and research labs contributing to the subject area. Some researchers, such as Gerard Steen, have worked to develop empirical investigative tools for metaphor research, including the Metaphor Identification Procedure, or MIP. In Psychology, Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr., has investigated conceptual metaphor and embodiment through a number of psychological experiments. Other cognitive scientists, for example Gilles Fauconnier, study subjects similar to conceptual metaphor under the labels 'analogy', 'conceptual blending' and 'ideasthesia'. Conceptual metaphors are seen in language in our everyday lives. Conceptual metaphors shape not just our communication, but also shape the way we think and act. In George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's work, Metaphors We Live By (1980), we see how everyday language is filled with metaphors we may not always notice. An example of one of the commonly used conceptual metaphors is 'argument is war'. This metaphor shapes our language in the way we view argument as war or as a battle to be won. It is not uncommon to hear someone say 'He won that argument' or 'I attacked every weak point in his argument'. The very way argument is thought of is shaped by this metaphor of arguments being war and battles that must be won. Argument can be seen in other ways than a battle, but we use this concept to shape the way we think of argument and the way we go about arguing. Conceptual metaphors are used very often to understand theories and models. A conceptual metaphor uses one idea and links it to another to better understand something. For example, the conceptual metaphor of viewing communication as a conduit is one large theory explained with a metaphor. So not only is our everyday communication shaped by the language of conceptual metaphors, but so is the very way we understand scholarly theories. These metaphors are prevalent in communication and we do not just use them in language; we actually perceive and act in accordance with the metaphors. In the Western philosophical tradition, Aristotle is often situated as the first commentator on the nature of metaphor, writing in the Poetics, 'A 'metaphorical term' involves the transferred use of a term that properly belongs to something else,' and elsewhere in the Rhetoric he says that metaphors make learning pleasant; 'To learn easily is naturally pleasant to all people, and words signify something, so whatever words create knowledge in us are the pleasantest.' Aristotle's writings on metaphor constitute a 'substitution view' of metaphor, wherein a metaphor is simply a decorative word or phrase substituted for a more ordinary one. This has been sometimes called the 'Traditional View of Metaphor' and at other times the 'Classical Theory of Metaphor'. Later in the first century A.D., the Roman rhetorician Quintilian builds upon Aristotle's earlier work of metaphor by focusing more on the comparative function of metaphorical language. In his work Institutio Oratoria, Quintilian states,' In totum autem metaphora brevior est similitudo' or 'on the whole, metaphor is a shorter form of simile'. Modern interpretations of these early theories have also been intensely debated. Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge, writes in summary that 'it is certain that we shall taste the freshness of their insights only if we free them from the obligation to answer questions that were never theirs to ask'. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, although originally taking a hard-line interpretation of these early authors later concede that Aristotle was working within a different philosophical framework from what we engage with today and that critical interpretations should take this in to account.