Metaphor, Metaphor Schemata, and Selective Inferencing

Abstract : This paper demonstrates the importance of spatial and other metaphors. An approach to handling metaphors in a computational framework is described, based on the idea of selective inferencing. Three types of metaphor are examined in detail in this light: a simple metaphor, a spatial metaphor schema, and a novel metaphor. Finally, the author discusses the analogical processes that underlie the metaphor in this approach, and what the approach says about several classical questions about the metaphor.