The Use and Abuse of Metaphor, I

ItIetaphor has always been one of the central problems of philos ophy. Nor is this simply because metaphors are in fact used and abused in every area of human discourse. Even more important is the fact that metaphor constitutes the indispensable principle for integrating diverse phenomena and perspectives without sacrific ing their diversity. For centuries, however, metaphor was consid ered to be either nothing more than a stylistic ornament, super imposed on cognitive discourse for emotive purposes, or else a mere illustrative comparison whose possible meaning and truth could emerge only when the metaphor was reduced to literal statements. In either case, the use of metaphor was traditionally considered a hindrance rather than a help to any serious cognitive pursuit; and hence the study of metaphor was banished to the domains of rhetoric and biblical exegesis.