Abstract

This inquiry into questions of linguistic meaning begins by surveying general problems clustered around the phenomenon known as metaphor. Theories of metaphor are classified as Authoritarian, Anarchist or Middle Ground theories, and these theoretical groupings are examined in terms of their characteristic features and basic motivations. Special attention is given to Donald Davidson and Friedrich Nietzsche. It is argued that these two philosophers, despite their positions on polar opposites of a theoretical continuum, have much in common and that their views share common problems that infect the entire continuum. Finally, an alternative to the Authoritarian-Anarchist continuum is proposed, and an argument made against an absolute distinction between literal and figurative meaning and for the recognition of private meanings, including poetic metaphor, against the background of a shared common language