An Iconic Logic of Metaphors

Three theses are defended: (i) that metaphors create non-literal meaning; (ii) that metaphoric meaning is a matter of iconic logic; and (iii) that semantics of metaphors requires modal interpretation. The logic of metaphors takes similarity considerations to be central to iconicity. Similarity is a species of iconicity in the sense of Charles Peirce’s theory of diagrammatic signs. Consequence is a refutation of (i) meaning holism, (ii) the language of thought hypothesis, and (iii) psychologism about metaphoric meaning.

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