A review of prominent theories of metaphor and metaphorical reference revisited

Abstract

My thesis is that the most prominent theories of metaphor in the Anglo-American tradition have not sufficiently taken into account the idea that some metaphors may create insights. More attention needs to be given to dissimilarities in metaphorical expressions and to the constraints that contribute to the expressions and interpretations of metaphors. I offer brief expositions and critiques of the views of Max Black, John Searle, Donald Davidson, and Monroe Beardsley. With this in mind, I try to expand my interactionist view of metaphorical reference in terms of the dissonances and dissimilarities that have been recognized as one of the marks of metaphors. Expanding on Monroe Beardsley's idea of Metaphorical Twist, I argue that what some metaphors create are new complexes of related connotations. The interactions among the connotations constrain interpretive processes, and interpretation encounters an aspect of independent objectivity. The objectivity is experienced in the negative suggestions some connotations have and the vectoral direction these suggestions have in nudging the interpretation to completion. The resulting complexes, then, are metaphorical insights, and they contribute to evolution in language and the realities referred to by language.