Metaphoric Perspectives

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“We understand to a very large extent through metaphor. This is what I call metaphoric understanding.”

“But any metaphoric model is necessarily imperfect, an approximation.”

“Indeed. That’s why we can’t rely on only one metaphoric model. To make better approximations, we need multiple models for the same thing.

It’s like looking at an object through multiple holes in an enclosing fence. No individual hole gives you the whole picture, but the more holes you look through, the better approximation you get.”

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