| Metaphor is a cognitive instrument for human beings to conceptualize the physical and social phenomena in the world unknown to them via the already known. To testify this viewpoint, this thesis has reviewed studies on metaphor from the ancient philosopher Aristotle to contemporary researchers from linguistic, psychological, and philosophical perspectives, analyzed the results of psychological experiments which include those on children's linguistic behaviors, described as an illustration the cognitive and heuristic functions that metaphors play in the area of computer science, and examined the existence of metaphors as a cognitive tool in Chinese in addition to our elaboration of the issue regarding the English language. Our conclusion is that as a cognitive tool, metaphor serves explanatory and constitutive functions in both English and Chinese, and it is therefore likely that these important functions, which provide convincing evidence in support of metaphor as a cognitive tool, are universal in different cultures.
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