The metaphor: from the transport of meaning to the trans-figuration of the world (Of the varieties of metaphorical experience)

Abstract

Based on a review of the different forms metaphorical experience take,  in this article, I attempt to show that metaphor plays various roles in the realm of culture. For this purpose, I describe four general types of metaphorical experience: communicative, epistemic, scientific, and anthropologic. This discussion will reveal the inherently world-shaping character of metaphor in so far as its working is inextricably related to that of language in a culture. This leads to the conclusion that metaphor is not only a tool to name the world but a highly complex procedure for thinking about it and constructing it.