Metaphor and its relevance

Metaphoric Revolution: in quest of a manifesto for governance through metaphor (Part #5)

Conventional applications: Metaphor is a classic device through which a complex set of elements and relationships can be rendered comprehensible - when any attempt to explain them otherwise could easily be meaningless. It is the peculiar strength of metaphor that it can convey the essential without excessive oversimplification, preserving its complexity by perceiving it through a familiar pattern of equivalent complexity.

A metaphor according to Nelson Goodman,

'typically involves a change not merely of range but also of realm. A label along with others constituting a schema is in effect detached from the home realm of that schema and applied for the sorting and organizing of an alien realm. Partly by thus carrying with it a reorientation of a whole network of labels does a metaphor give clues for its own development and elaboration... A whole set of alternative labels, a whole apparatus of organization takes over a new territory... and the organization they effect in the alien realm is guided by their habitual use in the home realm. A schema may be transported almost anywhere. The choice of territory for invasion is arbitrary; but the operation within that territory is almost never completely so... which elements in the chosen realm are warem, or are warmer than others, is then very largely determinate. Even where a schema is imposed upon a most likely and uncongenial realm, antecedent practice channels the application of the labels. (18, pp. 72-74)

There is a very extensive literature on metaphor (19). Interest in the subject outside the literary world has markedly increased in recent years. Of special interest to many authors in the social and natural sciences is the degree to which concept formation is guided by metaphor or may even be totally based on metaphor. There appears to be increasing recognition of the power of metaphor to facilitate communication in situations where groups are fragmented by disciplinary, language or educational barriers.

Cognitive functions: It is now recognized that metaphors permeate use of both everyday language and the jargons of many disciplines including physics (32,33). As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson note:

'Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish - a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language...most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.' (30, p.3)

Lakoff and Johnson demonstrate this with many examples which are confirmed in Roger Jones study of Physics as Metaphor (33). The authors conclude that 'If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.' (30, p.3) They started their work from a concern that the understanding of meaning as explored by Western philosophy and linguistics had very little to do with what people found meaningful in their lives and quickly discovered that the assumptions of those disciplines precluded them from even raising the kinds of issue they wished to address. 'The problem was not one of extending or patching up some existing theory of meaning but of revising central assumptions in the Western philosophical tradition. In particular, this meant rejecting the possibility of any objective or absolute truth... It also meant supplying an alternative account in which human experience and understanding, rather than objective truth, played the central role.' (30, p.x)

The authors show how metaphor reveals the limitations of objectivism, namely the assumption that the world is made of distinct objects with inherent properties and fixed relations between them. In a subsequent paper Lakoff takes the investigation a step further with an extensive exploration of classical assumptions about categories and cognitive models. He concludes:

'Changing our ideas about categories will require changing our ideas about rational thought, the nature of the mind and its relation to the body, and, in the process, changing our conception of man. Rationality, rather than being disembodied, purely mental, asocial, unfeeling and mechanical, is something which essentially involves the body, the senses, the emotions, social structure, interactions with other people, the imagination, and the capacity for idealization and for understanding based on the totality of experience. And the use of many partial models, some of which are inconsistent with each other, to comprehend experience is not irrational, but rather fits the paradigm of human rationality.' (34)

This does not necessarily imply that objectivist categories and models should be abandoned. It does suggest, as argued elsewhere (23), that these constitute only one form of language and that there are others on whose resources society can draw at this critical time.

It is interesting that the current explorations of the function of metaphor are clarifying its traditional use in conveying subtleties which aredenatured by conventional categorization, namely the kind of altered modes of awareness, whether associated with religious experience (36) or other forms of peak experience characteristic of certain approaches to human development (36). J-P Van Noppen points out that 'while it is becoming clear that metaphor is not a panacea providing the final answer to all questions raised by human attempts at framing a transcendent mode of being in man-centred language, the present evolution traces paths of thought and investigation which deserve to be pursued and which are...being trodden with a great deal of enthusiasm.' (37, p.4) This has been stimulated by explorations of the mechanism whereby man's words could be 'stretched' beyond the usual limits of this worldly reference. He stresses however that exponents of metaphor have not been blinded to the limitations of the medium. The contributors to the reader edited by Van Noppen repeatedly emphasize that the metaphor 'should not be taken beyond its point, i.e. should remain subordinate to the insight it was coined to express, and perhaps even be adapted when the actual insight is blurred or swamped by secondary associations.'(37, p.4)

Distinguishing extended metaphor: It is neither possible nor appropriate to review here the literature on the many dimensions of metaphor relevant to the topic of this paper. Figure 1 is however designed to clarify different areas of discussion in relation to the concerns of this paper.

Figure 1: Clarification of the range of ways in which metaphors may be used

It is useful to distinguish two basic functions of metaphor, as represented by the rows in Figure 1:

(a) Initiatory functions: The importance of metaphor in relationship to creativity, whether in the arts or the sciences, has been frequently noted. Through exploration of 'lateral thinking', for example, this has been extended to management (20). In such cases metaphor is the vehicle of insight and provides the first ordering of a previously inchoate set of possibilities and constraints. It is thus a vital tool for concept design. Through a metaphor the earlier confusion is seen in a new way. Once this is possible, other tools may build on this foundation. In the case of governance, this may mean the formulation of a strategy, a slogan, a model, etc. Any such formulation may well make no reference to the triggering metaphor. It can be argued that exposure to the rigours of team sport and military training (or combat) ensures an unconscious formative influence on the categories people use to act and to comprehend social dynamics.
(b) Conscious uses: Metaphors may of course be deliberately and consciously selected in order to present phenomena in a particular light. An author or poet may do so quite intentionally, as may a politician, an educator, a psychotherapist, a salesman -- or any skilled negotiator.

This paper is primarily concerned with the use of metaphor in an extended manner, whether for creative or communication purposes, but especially by design, when used consciously. The focus is thus on the use of metaphor for 'reframing' understanding of the social environment as a basic for a conceptually sustainable basis for sustainable development in the future.
(c) Communicative functions: Once a concept has been formulated, it usually has to be communicated to people and groups whore are unfamiliar with the specialized jargon in which it is embodied -- and are quite possible completely disinclined to learn it (even if they have the background to do so). In such a situation, metaphor can be called upon to convey the essentials of the concept. In the case of governance, this may mean the presentation of a model or a strategy. Such presentation may, or may not, use the same metaphor as that through which such a strategy was conceived.

Despite such extensive use in creativity and communication, ironically metaphor has a very 'bad press'. The fact that metaphor may be used with great elegance in literature in no way compensates for the fact that in the 'real world' of governance, technology and social problems, metaphors are usually perceived as a nuisance and a sign of sloppy thinking. A goal in computerized information is to ensure metaphor-free communication to avoid ambiguity and confusion. But at the same time, those concerned with such real world issues find themselves obliged to make use of metaphors to explain their concerns in seeking resources for them. They therefore tend to associate their use with methods of public relations which may be necessary but cannot be taken seriously. The best examples of this are the extensive use of metaphors by politicians, whether speaking to their constituencies of in parliamentary debate. But no policy document would be taken seriously if its language was based on metaphor. This paper aims to distinguish two approaches to metaphor as indicated by the columns of Figure 1:
(d) Ephemeral uses: Metaphor is most frequently used as a literary device to illustrate some ideas for rhetorical purposed. The charm and beauty of much literature is based on this effect. For communication and education purposed, metaphors may be briefly used to help people to understand an idea. The aim being that people should discard the metaphor once they have got the idea. The cognitive value of the metaphor is as a temporary piece of conceptual scaffolding. Similarly in any creative endeavour, insight may come through use of metaphor to help give form to an idea. The metaphor may then be discarded -- many ideas in fundamental physics are reported to arise in this way, for example.
(e) Extended uses: A metaphoric framework may be used over an extended period of time as a vehicle for communication in practical situations. The clearest examples of this area in business management where military metaphor is extensively used when describing the dynamics of relations with the competition and the markets 'targeted', and sporting metaphors are used to describe the dynamics of teamwork within the corporation. It can be argued that the metaphor here performs an important cognitive function in giving form to the complex action oriented dynamics in a manner which is useful to the pursuit of business and is significant in maintaining a viable pattern of communications within a group (often of very diverse backgrounds).

To give focus to the concerns of this paper, a further distinction can be usefully made based on the diagonals in Figure 1:
(f) Unconscious uses: Despite all that may be taught about metaphor in any literary education, people tend not to be conscious of using such devices or of their cognitive implications -- just as people tend not to be conscious of using particular jargons or grammatical constructions. The use of military and sporting metaphor in management tends to be unconscious and its cognitive consequences are implicit, as in the use of any language.

The use of metaphors for communicative purposes clearly has an important integrative function in relating the governors and the governed. But it is the initiatory function which is of prime importance to the internal processes of governance. In a sense metaphor here has a 'keystone' function as the ordering pattern or matrix through which strategies, models and programmes take form. It provides the implicit bridge between the disparate tools of governance.

Governance, especially when faced with the complex challenge of sustaining development, makes use of metaphor (whether explicitly or implicitly) in ordering its priorities and strategies. It is such fundamental metaphors imposed upon the 'hyle', which give form and stability to a 'landscape' on which the hazards and opportunities of governance are mapped. A major attribute of governance is the skill required to traverse such a terrain, possibly whilst under attack from hostile or destabilizing forces. But of equal importance, especially in the long-term, is the ability to switch to a new metaphor through which the epistemological domain is ordered. For, given the inherent complexity of the 'hyle', no one metaphor can adequately encompass the dimensions to which governance must respond.

To fulfil its functions governance must be able to orient itself in terms of a succession of more appropriate 'landscapes'. It is possible for a single root metaphor to last the duration of a period of government (and electoral period) and engender a variety of needed strategies. But in a highly turbulent socio-political context, such a single metaphor is more then likely to prove inadequate. Governance then requires the skill to move between a set of metaphors each capable of rendering comprehensible certain sets of dimensions of the hyle. For this skill to become communicable it must itself be embodied in a metaphor.

Main menu

Directions

You are here

Main menu

Search form

Directions

You are here

Metaphor and its relevance