Posted by
glen e. p. ropella-2 on
May 09, 2010; 9:09pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/The-coat-hook-of-the-mind-tp5012713p5027867.html
Nicholas Thompson wrote circa 05/07/2010 05:14 PM:
> I think one of the implications of the The Rant I recently posted is that
> metaphors can be made unfuzzy, precise, and exact if we are willing to take
> the time to separate out their implications into those that we already know
> to be false, those we already know to be true, and those that are not yet
> known to be true of false.
That's perfectly reasonable. But if it's only the "implications" of the
metaphor that can be made precise, then the metaphor itself, regardless
of how important it was in the formation of the result, is NOT what is
precise. The result of the "implication" (inference) is what is made
precise, not the metaphor.
Hence, if we can regard analogs as resulting from metaphors, then that
falls right in line with my proposition that analogs can be made precise
but metaphors cannot. Metaphors _rely_ on the fuzziness. They are the
"carriers" of the "transfer". If you remove the fuzziness from them,
they are no longer metaphors.
RE: Jochen's comment, then, I'd say that analogy is the calculus of the
mind. Metaphors are something more fluffy and mental providing the
conceptual motivation for the development of analogs.
--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095,
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