Re: metaphor and talking across skill levels

Posted by glen ep ropella on Mar 10, 2015; 3:31pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/metaphor-and-talking-across-skill-levels-tp7586111p7586120.html

On 03/09/2015 05:44 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> I gather that "symmetry" is itself a metaphor, subject both to the joys and pains thereof.

I suggest symmetry has a non-metaphorical definition.  But I admit the word can be successfully _abused_.  ;-)

> I never could find a plain spoken way to describe "above and below the plane of the molecule" without resort to the very terms I was trying to explain, until I thought of restaurant staff stacking six sided tables on top of one another to facilitate cleaning.  Only then did the three dimensionality of traditional "ring diagrams" make any sense to me.

But, see, _my_ problem is that I don't regard the concept "above and below the plane of the molecule" to be science.  That's ideological hoo-ha bouncing around in someone's mind.  The science is what's done with the hands (and feet, nose, etc.).  There is no plain spoken way to describe concepts.  There are only plain spoken ways to describe _things_ ... real things that you can touch and leave a bruise when someone throws it at you.

To me, metaphor doesn't seem fundamental to science because science is about what you _do_, not what you think.  It's way more scientific to talk about stacking tables than it is to talk about "above and below the molecule".

--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-255-2847, http://tempusdictum.com

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