Programme of metaphoric development

Innovative Global Management through Metaphor (Part #5)

There is a widely held academic view that use of metaphor may be valid for rhetorical and illustrative purposes but that its use for any serious purpose is to be considered highly suspect. It is not the purpose of this paper to repeat arguments demonstrating how basic metaphor is to concept formation in the most respectable disciplines. This has been done by others. Nor will any attempt be made to justify the use of metaphor as an aid to creativity and social innovation. Again this has been done by others. Space will also not be devoted to exploring subtle distinctions made in the humanities between metaphor, analogy, allegory, parable, symbol etc as literary devices. Such explorations do not seem to have empowered people to make more effective use of metaphor (however defined) in policy-related situations.

The key question requiring further discussion is whether metaphor can in reality be effectively used to enhance innovative policy-making for global management. The question is whether metaphors, used non-rhetorically, can provide the conceptual scaffolding for new policies and the structures resulting from them.

An imaginative stimulus for such investigation is provided by a science fiction scenario explored by a number of writers. It focuses on the challenge of comprehending high degrees of complexity calling for decision-making under operational conditions (as is the case in global global management). The problem is that of piloting or navigating a spacecraft through "hyperspace" or "sub-space", as imagined in the light of recent advances in theoretical physics and mathematics. Because of the inherent complexity of such environments, writers have explored the possibility that pilots and navigators might choose appropriate metaphors through which to perceive and order their task in relation to qualitative features of that complexity - for example, flying like a bird, windsurfing, swimming like a fish, tunneling like a mole, etc. The mass of data imput derived from various arrays of sensors, and otherwise completely unmanageable, is then channelled to the pilot in the form of appropriate sensory inputs to the nerve synapses corresponding to his "wings" or his "fins". Perception through the chosen metaphor is assisted by artificial intelligence software and appropriate graphic displays. The pilot switches between metaphors according to the nature of the hyperspace terrain. Such speculations do at least stimulate imagination concerning a possible marriage between metaphor and artificial intelligence in relation to governance.

Although it could be argued that successful entrepreneurs and leaders may in effect use some such metaphoric device already, as a way of ordering their strategic perceptions (even without the high-tech devices), the question as to whether more fundamental use can be made of metaphor in policy contexts can only be effectively answered by further work along the following lines:

(a) Design: Investigations are required into the way extended metaphors can be designed as an aid to governance. Such investigations should cover the following:

appropriate richness of the metaphor
constraints on use of the metaphor
degree of isomorphism with the problematique and/or operational style
degree of familiarity with dynamics of substrate

The design challenge should be explored in terms of the need for a set of complementary metaphors that can be used under different conditions to contain the problematique in question. Of special interest is the facility with which the shift from metaphor to metaphor within the set can be accomplished.

It is important to bear in mind that because metaphor is used extensively in many cultures in formal processes, skill in the use of metaphor in such circumstances may have to be acquired from them by those who attempt to use metaphor-free Western languages in development planning and implementation.

(b) Education: Educational techniques on the practical use of metaphor should be documented. The question is what media and other techniques can be adapted to facilitate access to the use of metaphor -- bearing in mind that most people, especially those without a formal education, appear to make extensive use of metaphor. Metaphor may be natural to the language in the culture in question or associated with traditional (or emergent) symbol systems. The problem is thus one of encouraging and legitimating an existing skill rather than of implanting a new one.

(c) Development of metaphoric indicators: Irrespective of whether enhanced use of metaphors is encouraged, there is a need to develop aids to the recognition of what might be considered metaphoric "aggression" or "entrapment". In the terms of Jacques Attali, people open themselves voluntarily to "seductive" truths by which they may subsequently become entrapped. At what point, or to whom, are metaphors to be considered aggressive -- to the point of violating a sense of identity or cultral integrity ? The misuse of advertising and political propaganda should be reviewed in this light.

Indicators are also required of metaphoric poverty to aid in determining vulnerability to metaphoric aggression and as a warning that information may be relatively incomprehensible in that form. The bureaucratic use of metaphor-free texts, especially within the international community, should be reviewed in this light.

(d) Engaging and disengaging from a metaphor: Effort should be made to articulate the skills required to "take-on" an extended metaphor to guide understanding of complex issues, whether individually or in a group -- especially where concrete action is called for. Corresponding effort is required to develop the skills which make it posible to "take-off" the metaphor, possibly in order to move to a more appropriate metaphor. Of special concern is developing the ability, when working within one metaphor, to determine that it is no longer as appropriate to the circumstances as some other meaphor might be.

Investigation and development of this skill is vital to any effective systematic use of sets or patterns of metaphors within which an individual or group may shift according to the nature of the conceptual challenge. It is especially important to further understanding of how to develop cyclic, or even rhythmic use of different conceptual scaffoldings.

(e) Empowerment in relation to social problems: The metaphors to which people have access should be examined to determine to what extent these are empowering or disempowering. The question is whether it is possible to design, or bring about the emergence of, empowering metaphors.

There would seem to be a strong possibility that the alienating quality of life, as experienced by increasing numbers, is in part due to imaginal impoverishment. The effort to compensate for this results in various forms of substance abuse, excessive television viewing and other activities which stimulate the imagination (however anti-social they may be).

Clearly, if there is any chance that new ways of using metaphor might open up new ways for people to relate to society then further investigation is appropriate. Especially if this may prove relevant to such intractable issues as youth unemployment, drug abuse, overpopulation and cultural impoverishment.

(f) Identification of metaphors of specialized agencies: As pointed out in an earlier paper, it is not recognized, when advocating or imposing the use of particular sets of values, needs or programmes, that these effectively compete as functional substitutes in traditional societies with other sets of qualities and modes of action symbolized by hierarchies of gods or spiritual beings governing those qualities. The fundamental sets society now attempts to implant, whether embodied in the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations or the equivalent government ministries, are indeed designed to perform many of the regulatory functions previously ascribed to supernatural beings or potencies. Given the ersatz quality of the academic and administrative approaches to legitimating such initiatives, in contrast with the cultural richness popularly associated in the past with pantheons or Camelot, for example, it is not surprising that public information programmes have relatively little success in arousing enthusiasm and generating "a political will to change".

The question is therefore how such agencies could make creative use of the metaphoric and symbolic dimensions to counteract their superficial and "bloodless" images, and give credibility to their initiatives. Given the criticisms of inefficiency and fragmentation, such investigations could uncover ways in which the metaphors governing agency action could be seen as components of a self-organizing organic pattern of fundamental significance - even to the governance of the planet as a whole. Such investigations could highlight the necessary functional complementarity between the metaphors in any such pattern;

(g) Investigation of problems as metaphors: It is seldom realized that a societal problem, as such, is a problem (at least to some degree) precisely because it escapes any attempt to encompass it within any conventional set of categories. Such problems cannot be "defined" in any scientific way. Global modelling initiatives do not model problems. Any problem emerges from human interpretation of the significance of the relationships modelled under certain conditions - they are not embodied in the model. As a psycho-social reality, people claim, however, to perceive problems. But as abstractions escaping definition, such problems could well be better understood as metaphors. It is indeed possible that metaphors offer a more fruitful way of handling them. It is arguable that the Chinese currently, emphasize this approach. Investigation is required into the strengths of this approach and its weakness (possibly as illustrated by Reagan's "evil empire" metaphor). Of special interest are the metaphors through which the global problematique may be perceived. Extremes include the "billiard ball" metaphor, the "network" metaphor, the "field metaphor" (with characteristic analogous to electromagnetic fields), and the "wave metaphor" (with problems emerging into prominence and then disappearing, as with political issues). Better metaphors, or more developed metaphors, could suggest more coherent strategies;

(h) Investigation of metaphors implicit in development action: It is seldom realized that a significant proportion of organization vocabulary results from innovations made by the Cistercian Order of monks after the 12th century in an early form of transnational organization. The notions of "assembly", "commission", "constitution", "agenda" and "ballot", for example, derive from that context. Given the key role played by the limited vocabulary of international action and development action in general, it would be appropriate to explore what metaphors are hidden in that vocabulary - "organization", "programme", "congress", "in the field", etc. In some cases tracing the metaphor may enrich understanding (e.g. "organization"), in others dangerous limitations may become apparent (e.g. "project", "mobilization"). Such investigations may suggest the possibility of a richer vocaburary more appropiate to "marshalling" resources in support of development action;

(i) Relevance of therapeutic metaphors to development action: Metaphors traditionally have played an important role in therapeutic situations, both in the case of individuals and for communities as a whole. Many cultures have sets of "fables" which assist in this function. Development thinking has paid little attention to the insights in such materials, whether in its own right or as a schema through which the culturedefines development processes. David Gordon's study of Therapeutic Metaphors represents an extremely valuable articulation of the therapeutic possibilities which are highly suggestive of new approaches to development and societal learning.

(j) Investigation of policy cycles: It has been argued earlier that seemingly incommensurable theoretical positions or social policies could be fruitfully explored as "frozen" portions of social learning cycles. In this light such particular positions are each naturally valid (i.e. appropriate) for a part of the cycle, but are inappropriate under conditions to which positions in other parts of the cycle respond.

Well-articulated positions or policies, taken in isolation, may thus be judged as attractive by those sensitive to the range of conditions which they address, namely by those in the same portion of the learning cycle. But such positions are essentially "sub-cyclic". Thus policy-making today, with its short-term focus, becomes a victim of cycles whose temporal scope it is unable to encompass. Any such policy naturally engenders what is perceived as "opposition", once it fails to respond to emerging conditions in the learning cycle.

An interesting feature of this approach is the recognition that a position or policy rejected as inappropriate today may well re-emerge as appropriate some time in the future -- when the cycle repeats. Typical examples of this are alternation between phases of "centralization" and "decentralization".

This raises the question of how to design a cycle of "incompatible" but complementary policies, and how to select or design a metaphor through which to comprehend its phases (each of which may itself need to be communicated in metaphoric form). One intriguing example along these lines is the Chinese classic the I Ching (or Book of Changes) -- a traditional policy guide to the Emperor. This involves transitions between 64 contrasting conditions in a cyclic sequence, each described in metaphoric terms. A version of this has been interpreted into Western management jargon in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential and is the basis of an extensive web demonstration (/chingndx_x_h_1). It is interesting that although many efforts have been made to describe cycles of relevance to the socio-economic sciences (cycles of civilizations, business cycles, economic cycles, etc), it is only recently that the argument has been made for the introduction of cyclic assumptions into understanding of the nature/society interactions. The author, Kinhide Mushakoji, suggest that this may result in the proposal for a quasi-Buddhist group of transient reality with an underlying non-Aristotelian logic. This has led to a formal language approach to the question by Gheorghe Paun.

The argument for a shift to a cyclic focus needs to be based on further theoretical understanding of cycles in relation to social phenomena. Kinhide Mushakoji is exploring the effects of the introduction of cyclic assumptions into understanding of nature/society interactions, which may result in a proposal for a quasi-Buddhist group of transient reality with an underlying non-aristotelian logic.

(k) Adapting insights from the arts: fiction, poetry and music: It is one of the recognized functions of the arts to give form to visions of new ways of organizing perceptions of the world. The arts are therefore an important resource in exploring new visions of social organization and visions of the future. As such it might be expected that they would suggest new approaches to governance.

Given the key position of poetry as a source of metaphor, as well as the subtlety of insights attributed to poets, one might expect the existence of poetic insights into the problem of governance. One interesting initiative in this connection is the multi-lingual compilation by V S M de Guinzbourg entitled the Wit and Wisdom of the United Nations. Whilst on the staff of the UN Secretariat, he collected proverbs and apothegms on diplomacy, some of them poetic in form. Of greater interest is the little known novel by the English Robert Graves, entitled Seven Days in New Crete. This is in effect a study of governance through poetry.

In explaining why "we are our own metaphor", biologist Gregory Bateson pointed out to a conference on the effects of conscious purpose on human adaptation that:

"One reason why poetry is important for finding out about the world is because in poetry a set of relationships get mapped onto a level of diversity in us that we don't ordinarily have access to. We bring it out in poetry. We can give to each other in poetry the access to a set of relationships in the other person and in the world that we're not usually conscious of in ourselves. So we need poetry as knowledge about the world and about ourselves, because of this mapping from complexity to complexity." (Mary Catherine Bateson. Our Own Metaphor, 1972, pp. 288-289)

Bateson is thus pointing to the advantages of poetry in providing access to a level of complexity in people of which they are not normally aware. This could well be of significance for the governance of social processes characterized by patterns of relationships normally too complex for the mind to grasp. Of special interest in comprehending non-linear cyclic processes in relation to linear thinking, are the potential insights arising from the relation of rhythmn to metre in poetry. In this sense the current "spastic" development of society, as a victim of economic cycles, may be seen as resulting from an a-rhythmic approach to governance.

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Programme of metaphoric development