metaphors we live by.docx

metaphors we live by.docx

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metaphorsweliveby

Isittruethatallofus,notjustpoets,speakinmetaphors,whetherwerealizeitornot?

Isitperhapseventruethatwelivebymetaphors?

InMetaphorsWeLiveByGeorgeLakoff,alinguist,andMarkJohnson,aphilosopher,suggestthatmetaphorsnotonlymakeourthoughtsmorevividandinterestingbutthattheyactuallystructureourperceptionsandunderstanding.Thinkingofmarriageasa"contractagreement,"forexample,leadstoonesetofexpectations,whilethinkingofitas"teamplay,""anegotiatedsettlement,""Russianroulette,""anindissolublemerger,"or"areligioussacrament"willcarrydifferentsetsofexpectations.Whenagovernmentthinksofitsenemiesas"turkeysor"clowns"itdoesnottakethemasseriousthreats,butiftheare"pawns"inthehandsofthecommunists,theyaretakenseriouslyindeed.MetaphorsWeLiveByhasledmanyreaderstoanewrecognitionofhowprofoundlymetaphorsnotonlyshapeourviewoflifeinthepresentbutsetuptheexpectationsthatdeterminewhatlifewellbeforusinthefuture.（fromintroductioninTheConsciousReader）

"MetaphorsWeLiveBy"byGeorgeLakoffandMarkJohnson

Ourselectioncompriseschapters1,2,3,andpartof4ofMetaphorsWeLiveBy（1980）.

CONCEPTSWELIVEBY

Metaphorisformostpeopledeviceofthepoeticimaginationandtherhetoricalflourish--amatterofextraordinaryratherthanordinarylanguage.Moreover,metaphoristypicallyviewedascharacteristicoflanguagealone,amatterofwordsratherthanthoughtoraction.Forthisreason,mostpeoplethinktheycangetalongperfectlywellwithoutmetaphor.Wehavefound,onthecontrary,thatmetaphorispervasiveineverydaylife,notjustinlanguagebutinthoughtandaction.Ourordinaryconceptualsystem,intermsofwhichweboththinkandact,isfundamentallymetaphoricalinnature.

Theconceptsthatgovernourthoughtarenotjustmattersoftheintellect.Theyalsogovernoureverydayfunctioning,downtothemostmundanedetails.Ourconceptsstructurewhatweperceive,howwegetaroundintheworld,andhowwerelatetootherpeople.Ourconceptualsystemthusplaysacentralroleindefiningoureverydayrealities.Ifwearerightinsuggestingthatourconceptualsystemislargelymetaphorical,thenthewaywethinkswhatweexperience,andwhatwedoeverydayisverymuchamatterofmetaphor.

Butourconceptualsystemisnotsomethingwearenormallyawareof.inmostofthelittlethingswedoeveryday,wesimplythinkandactmoreorlessautomaticallyalongcertainlines.Justwhattheselinesareisbynomeansobvious.Onewaytofindoutisbylookingatlanguage.Sincecommunicationisbasedonthesameconceptualsystemthatweuseinthinkingandacting,languageisanimportantsourceofevidenceforwhatthatsystemislike.

Primarilyonthebasisoflinguisticevidence,wehavefoundthatmostofourordinaryconceptualsystemismetaphoricalinnature.Andwehavefoundawaytobegintoidentifyindetailjustwhatthemetaphorsarehaltstructurehowweperceive,howwethink,andwhatwedo.

Togivesomeideaofwhatitcouldmeanforaconcepttobemetaphoricalandforsuchaconcepttostructureaneverydayactivity,letusstartwiththeconceptARGUMENTandtheconceptualmetaphorARGUMENTISWAR.Thismetaphorisreflectedinoureverydaylanguagebyawidevarietyofexpressions:

ARGUMENTISWAR

Yourclaimsareindefensible.

Heattackedeveryweakpointinmyargument.

Hiscriticismswererightontarget.

Idemolishedhisargument.

I'veneverwonanargumentwithhim.

youdisagree?

Okay,shoot!

Ifyouusethatstrategy,he'llwipeyouout.

Heshotdownallofmyarguments.

Itisimportanttoseethatwedon'tjusttalkaboutargumentsintermsof

Itisimportanttoseethatwedon'tjusttalkaboutargumentsintermsofwar.Wecanactuallywinorlosearguments.Weseethepersonwearearguingwithasanopponent.Weattackhispositionsandwedefendourown.Wegainandloseground.Weplanandusestrategies.Ifwefindapositionindefensible,wecanabandonitandtakeanewlineofattack.Manyofthethingswedoinarguingarepartiallystructuredbytheconceptofwar.Thoughthereisnophysicalbattle,thereisaverbalbattle,andthestructureofanargument--attack,defense,counter-attack,etc.---reflectsthis.ItisinthissensethattheARGUMENTISWARmetaphorisonethatwelivebyinthisculture;itsstructurestheactionsweperforminarguing.Trytoimagineaculturewhereargumentsarenotviewedintermsofwar,wherenoonewinsorloses,wherethereisnosenseofattackingordefending,gainingorlosingground.Imagineaculturewhereanargumentisviewedasadance,theparticipantsareseenasperformers,andthegoalistoperforminabalancedandaestheticallypleasingway.Insuchaculture,peoplewouldviewargumentsdifferently,experiencethemdifferently,carrythemoutdifferently,andtalkaboutthemdifferently.Butwewouldprobablynotviewthemasarguingatall:

theywouldsimplybedoingsomethingdifferent.Itwouldseemstrangeeventocallwhattheyweredoing"arguing."Inperhapsthemostneutralwayofdescribingthisdifferencebetweentheircultureandourswouldbetosaythatwehaveadiscourseformstructuredintermsofbattleandtheyhaveonestructuredintermsofdance.Thisisanexampleofwhatitmeansforametaphoricalconcept,namely,ARGUMENTISWAR,tostructure（atleastinpart）whatwedoandhowweunderstandwhatwearedoingwhenweargue.Theessenceofmetaphorisunderstandingandexperiencingonekindofthingintermsofanother..Itisnotthatargumentsareasubspeciesofwar.Argumentsandwarsaredifferentkindsofthings--verbaldiscourseandarmedconflict--andtheactionsperformedaredifferentkindsofactions.ButARGUMENTispartiallystructured,understood,performed,andtalkedaboutintermsofWAR.Theconceptismetaphoricallystructured,theactivityismetaphoricallystructured,and,consequently,thelanguageismetaphoricallystructured.

Moreover,thisistheordinarywayofhavinganargumentandtalkingaboutone.Thenormalwayforustotalkaboutattackingapositionistousethewords"attackaposition."Ourconventionalwaysoftalkingaboutargumentspresupposeametaphorwearehardlyeverconsciousof.Themetaphorsnotmerelyinthewordsweuse--itisinourveryconceptofanargument.Thelanguageofargumentisnotpoetic,fanciful,orrhetorical;itisliteral.Wetalkaboutargumentsthatwaybecauseweconceiveofthemthatway--andweactaccordingtothewayweconceiveofthings.

Themostimportantclaimwehavemadesofaristhatmetaphorisnotjustamatteroflanguage,thatis,ofmerewords.Weshallarguethat,onthecontrary,humanthoughtprocessesarelargelymetaphorical.Thisiswhatwemeanwhenwesaythatthehumanconceptualsystemismetaphoricallystructuredanddefined.Metaphorsaslinguisticexpressionsarepossiblepreciselybecausetherearemetaphorsinaperson'sconceptualsystem.Therefore,wheneverinthisbookwespeakofmetaphors,suchasARGUMENTISWAR,itshouldbeunderstoodthatmetaphormeansmetaphoricalconcept.

THESYSTEMATICITTYOFMETAPHORICALCONCEPTS

Argumentsusuallyfollowpatterns;thatis,therearecertainthingswetypicallydoanddonotdoinarguing.Thefactthatweinpartconceptualizeargumentsintermsofbattlesystematicallyinfluencestheshapeargumentstakeandthewaywetalkaboutwhatwedoinarguing.Becausethemetaphoricalconceptissystematic,thelanguageweusetotalkaboutthataspectoftheconceptissystematic.

WesawintheARGUMENTISWARmetaphorthatexpressionsfromthevocabularyofwar,e.g.,attackaposition,indefensible,strategy,newlineofattack,win,gainground,etc.,formasystematicwayoftalkingaboutthebattlingaspectsofarguing.Itisnoaccidentthattheseexpressionsmeanwhattheymeanwhenweusethemtotalkaboutarguments.Aportionoftheconceptualnetworkofbattlepartiallycharacterizesfileconceptofanargument,andthelanguagefollowssuit.Sincemetaphoricalexpressionsinourlanguagearetiedtometaphoricalconceptsinasystematicway,wecanusemetaphoricallinguisticexpressionstostudythenatureofmetaphoricalconceptsandtogainanunderstandingofthemetaphoricalnatureofouractivities.

Togetanideaofhowmetaphoricalexpressionsineverydaylanguageicongiveusinsightintothemetaphoricalnatureoftheconceptsthatstructureoureverydayactivities,letusconsiderthemetaphoricalconceptTIMEISMoneyasitisreflectedincontemporaryEnglish.

TIMEISMONEY

You'rewastingmytime.

Thisgadgetwillsaveyouhours.Idon'thavethetimetogiveyou.

Howdoyouspendyourtimethesedays?

Thatflattirecostmeanhour.

I'veinvestedalotoftimeinher.

1don'thaveenoughtimetospareforthat.You'rerunningoutoftime.

Youneedtobudgetyourtime.

Putasideasidesometimeforpingpong.

Isthatworthyourwhile?

Doyouhavemuchtimeleft?

He'slivingonIborrowedtime.

Youdon'tuseyourtime,profitably.

IlostalotoftimewhenIgotsick.

Thankyouforyourtime.

Timeinourcultureisavaluablecommodity.Itisalimitedresourcethatweusetoaccomplishourgoals.BecauseofthewaythattheconceptofworkhasdevelopedinmodernWesternculture,whereworkistypicallyassociatedwiththetimeittakesandtimeispreciselyquantified,ithasbecomecustomarytopaypeoplebythehour,week,oryear.InourcultureTIMEISMONEYinmanyways:

telephonemessageunits,hourlywages,hotelroomrates,yearlybudgets,interestonloans,andpayingyourdebttosocietyby"servingtime."Thesepracticesarerelativelynewinthehistoryofthehumanrace,andbynome