Taking Metaphor’s Contextuality Seriously: Sharpening Theory – Reinspecting Methodology

Authors

  • Petra Gehring

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/mae.2017.62

Abstract

The paper wants to promote a theory of metaphors that strictly reserves the term for the concrete, distinct, singular and contextually situated metaphor. It argues that thinking of metaphors simply in terms of a transfer from a „literal“ to a “figurative” meaning produces unnecessary paradoxes and aporiae. It also criticizes tendencies of isolating metaphors from their place of emergence and of generalizing different metaphors under umbrella concepts. It outlines a theory of metaphor that puts high emphasis on pragmatics and the unpredictability of meaning.

Author Biography

Petra Gehring

Petra Gehring is Professor of Philosophy at the Technische Universität of Darmstadt, Germany. She was co-editor of the Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, is member of the advisory board of the Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie and the Philosophisches Jahrbuch as well as coeditor of the Journal Phänomenologie. Her fields of research cover philosophical conceptual history and metaphorology, classical and post-classical phenomenology as well as specific topics of aesthetics (sign, text, voice). Currently, Gehring is working on the history and metaphysics of the concept of life, on modal concepts of ‘reality’ and on theoretical issues of power.

Metaphor in the Arts, in Media and Communication

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Published

2017-11-28

How to Cite

Gehring, P. (2017). Taking Metaphor’s Contextuality Seriously: Sharpening Theory – Reinspecting Methodology. Mediaesthetics – Journal of Poetics of Audiovisual Images, (2). https://doi.org/10.17169/mae.2017.62

Issue

No. 2 (2017): Metaphor in the Arts, in Media and Communication

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Gehring Petra

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