24 April 2001

To: Carole Ann Crateau

From: Arron Kau

Subject: Meaning and Metaphor

Communication is the means and the end of the educational enterprise. Without dialogue there is
no such thing as education. Most often, however, we pay far more attention to the content of that
dialogue than the means by which it takes place. This is unfortunate because, as George Orwell
put it, “If thought can corrupt language, then language can corrupt thought.” It is important to
examine the mechanics of language: the manner in (or extent to) which it carries meaning, the
ways it changes over time, the capability is has to arbitrarily change the way people think. If we
do, it may become apparent how very much the means of the dialogue actually determines its
content.

The Issue

Language is metaphor. Words themselves are merely arbitrary symbols, unrelated to the things
they represent. It is only by agreeing on what those symbols mean that we are able to
communicate with each other at all. This is why most intelligent discussions begin with a
definition of the terms being discussed. More important however, are the meta-metaphors: that
is, the overarching symbols or types we establish for ourselves, our civilization, or our world.
Thus, one who views America as a melting pot will look at issues much differently from one
who looks at it as a tossed salad. One who views the mind as a garden to be cultivated will
approach education in a different manner than one who looks at it as a blank slate, waiting to be
filled. One who views this country as a melting pot will have different political ideas than one
who rejects this time-honored metaphor. When we speak of a “wall” of separation between
church and state, we use a metaphor as our vehicle of thought; how different would this country
and our lives look if we instead spoke of a coin, of which state was the front and religion the
back? On the other hand, perhaps we could have chosen the picture of an orchestra, where each
instrument plays a different part, but the whole works together for the greater good. These
different metaphors would have had different consequences. Perhaps our society would not have
been so segmented and fragmentary. Perhaps our civilization would have collapsed by now. It’s
not really important what would have happened. The point is that the metaphors we adopt (and
those that are adopted for us by society) determine, to a large extent, the manner in which we
think and act. Metaphor shapes our language and our thinking. What I desire to address is the
manner by which these metaphors become part of our unconscious, assumed worldview.
 Kau 2

The Audience

This is not an issue confined to any discipline: scientists and historians both must grapple with
the language they use to describe their field and the world. It is not even an issue confined to
academia. An understanding of the way our language is shaped and the way it shapes us is vitally
important to any thinking person. In fact, language is the foundation of thought. We build our
thoughts from words. It would be wise to step back every now and then to examine the building
blocks we use.

The Interviews

I will interview Dr. Fairchild, who is a philosophy professor at Oregon State University and one
or two other persons yet to be determined. Although it is accepted by almost everyone that
metaphors and the language we use are important, many disagree on the extent to which
language is able to carry meaning, and the effect is has on our thinking. The questions I ask will
relate to the topic generally, but will concentrate on the areas most often up for debate.

Working Bibliography

Barrow, Robin. “Language: Definition and Metaphor.” Studies in Philosophy and Education
16.1-2 (Jan-Apr 1997): 113-125.1
Berg, Jonathan. “Metaphor, Meaning, and Interpretation.” Journal of Pragmatics 36 (July 1990):
695-709.2
Blasco, D. G. “On the Tip of the Iceberg: Who Understands What About Metaphor?” Journal of
Pragmatics 31.12 (Nov 1999): 1675-1683.3
Brooks, Christopher K. “Controlling the Metaphor: Language and Self Definition in
Revolutionary America.” Clio 25.3 (Spring 1996): 223-245.4
Brown, JoAnne. The Definition of a Profession: The Authority of Metaphor in the History of
Intelligence Testing. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992.5
Debatin, Bernhard. “The Rationality of Metaphor: An Analysis Based on the Philosophy of
Language and Communication Theory.” 1997. 6 Mar 2001
<[Link]
Embler, Weller. “Metaphor and Social Belief.” ETC. 40 (1983): 293-304.7
Eubanks, Phillip. A War of Words in the Discourse of Trade: The Rhetorical Constitution of
Metaphor. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2000.8
Frye, Northrop. “The Symbol as Medium of Exchange.” 1984. Myth and Metaphor: Selected
Essays. Ed. Robert Denham. Charlottesville: Virginia UP, 1990. 28-43.9
Gozzi, Raymond. The Power of Metaphor in the Age of Electronic Media. Creskill, NJ:
Hampton Press, 1999.10
Hibbits, Bernard J. “Making Sense of Metaphors: Visuality, Aurality, and the Reconfiguration of
American Legal Discourse.” University of Pittsburgh: School of Law. 4 Mar 2001.
<[Link]
Keysar, B. et al. “Conventional Language: How Metaphorical Is It?” Journal of Memory and
Language 43.4 (Nov 2000): 576-593.12
 Kau 3

Mazzotta, Giuseppe. Dante’s Vision and the Circle of Knowledge. Princeton: Princeton UP,
1993.13
Monk, Ray. Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. New York: Maxwell Macmillan, 1990.14
Owens, Craig. “Einstein on the Beach: The Primacy of Metaphor.” Beyond Recognition:
Representation, Power, and Culture. Ed. Scott Bryson. University of California Press,
1994.15
Perrin, Norman. Jesus and the Language of the Kingdom: Symbol and Metaphor in New
Testament Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.16
Prosser, Helen. “Metaphor and Thought.” Philosophy Today 44.2 (Summer 2000): 137-152.17
Rajagopalan, K. “Metaphor: Implications and Applications.” Studies in Language 23.2 (1999):
409-23.18
1
Found using Academic Search Elite. Available in ORBIS. Emphasizes the importance of philosophy in education
with an emphasis on the use of metaphor.
2
Found using MLA Bibliography. OSU call number: P99.4.P72 J68. This work would be helpful in that it discusses
how we go about finding the meaning in metaphors.
3
Found using AH Search. Not available in OSU or ORBIS. This sounds like an interesting and helpful piece in that
it sounds like it is about the questions rather than the answers involved in metaphors: this should be helpful in my
paper.
4
Found using Academic Search Elite. OSU Call number: AS30. C53. A look at how people define themselves by
language: more evidence of how language determines who we are and how we communicate.
5
Found using OASIS subject search. OSU call number: BF431.5.U6 B76 1992. This work would be an interesting
contribution to my research in that it shows how metaphors have affected a particular field of study. The mind as a
garden to be cultivated and the mind as a blank slate to be filled carry completely different connotations of how we
go about measuring intelligence.
6
Found using web search (Copernic). Debatin makes a case for the rationality of metaphor. His is an interesting
perspective and should add useful material to my paper.
7
Found using MLA Bibliography. OSU call number: B840. E8. Embler claims in this article that metaphors do not
only describe the world around us, but that they actually determine the way we think and act. His is an interesting
perspective that would contribute well to my paper.
8
Found using MLA Bibliography. OSU call number: HF1008 .E78 2000. This work should be helpful as it
examines the nature of meaning in metaphors.
9
Found using EGLI. OSU call number: PN45 .F74 1990. Frye claims that it is only by the use of symbols that we
communicate, and that it is only by the use of metaphor that we are able to come up with an overarching perspective
on reality.
10
Found using WorldCat. Available in ORBIS. Discussions of interaction between mediums of communication and
the meaning they convey is vitally important to any discussion of the way metaphors affect our language: at it’s
base, all technology carries metaphors within it.
11
Found using web search (Copernic). This is an interesting web site, in that it offers a discussion of how the use of
metaphors has affected the views of a particular profession (law, in this case). It seems fairly authoritative as it was
written by a law professor, is on U Pitts web site, and has been reviewed by several other professors/scholars.
12
Found using AH Search. OSU call number: BF455.A1 J6. This work discusses the extent to which our language is
metaphorical in nature—along with all the others, this work will provide important evidence.
13
Found using OASIS subject search. OSU call number: PQ4392 .M39 1993. This book is a discussion of how the
language Dante used challenged the view of those around him in theology, arts, grammar, etc. I don’t know if this
will be helpful or not (I have not read the book), but I include it here because it might be of use, and if it did have the
sort of information I need, it would be a valuable source of examples.
14
Found using Biography Index. OSU Call number: B3376.W564 M59 1990. Wittgenstein was an important
philosopher in this area of discussion, and so a biography of him might be helpful for this paper.
15
Found using EGLI. OSU call number: NX165 .O941 1994. Examines metaphors from a political and artistic
perspective.
16
Found using OASIS subject search. OSU call number: BT94 .P387. Another work about how metaphor is used in
language to convey meanings—this book should be especially interesting as it carries with it the whole history of
Christianity.
 Kau 4

Van Haaften, Wouter. “Wittgenstein and the Significance of Private Meaning.” Studies in
Philosophy and Education 14.2-3 (July 1995): 171-187.19
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. Trans. G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1967.20

Work Schedule

Week 4 Proposal Due

Week 5 Research/Interviews

Week 6 Reasearch/Interviews/Draft of Outline

Week 7 Outline Due/Prepare Presentation

Week 8 Oral Presentations/Begin Paper

Week 9 Continue Rough Draft/Additional Research if Necessary

Week 10 Finish Rough Draft

Week 11 Final Draft Due

Call To Action

This topic is essential to academics. It is more than that, however. It is the groundwork of our
ability to think and communicate, and thus the foundation of our humanity. That is why it is
worth the time and effort necessary to do this research. My perspective will be that of a first-year
undergraduate student, and thus, not one with any final answers; perhaps I will not even find any
final questions. My hope, however, is to synthesize much that has been said already, and this will
be uniquely my perspective on the issue.

17
Found using Academic Search Elite. OSU call number: B1. P57. Discusses explicitly the relationship between
metaphor and thought. This really gets to the core of the matter I want to pursue, so this should be a helpful article.
18
Found using AH Search. Not available in OSU or ORBIS. The title of this piece sounds promising, but there is no
summary or abstract for it, so although it should be helpful, there is a possibility that it might not be.
19
Found using Academic Search Elite. Available in ORBIS. Discusses Wittgenstein’s use of language as a private
carrier of meaning: systematic concealment of meaning in linguistic philosophy. This will be helpful in discussing
the extent to which language is able to carry meaning at all.
20
Found using OASIS. OSU call number: B3376 .W5 1958a. Wittgenstein was considered an authority on language.