A Cognitive Study Of Conceptual Metaphor In Chuang-Tzu

The study of metaphor can be traced back to the period of ancient Greece,when metaphor was considered an ornamental device used in rhetoric.However,with the development of cognitive linguistics,especially after the publication of Metaphors We Live By by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980,metaphor is actually a pervasive phenomenon in everyday language,which constrains or even defines the way we think,reason,and argue.It is now often taken as a powerful tool for our conceptualization of abstract categories by means of cross-domain mappings.Following this trend,the present author is enthusiastic about applying the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to the analysis of Chuang-Tzu,one of the most fundamental texts of the Taoism.Chuang Chou has written Chuang-Tzu which has become the formal representative of Taoism in 618-907 in Tang Dynasty.Chuang Tzu inherits and develops the philosophy of Lao Tzu and sets up his own philosophical ideology and literature style.Chuang Tzu is not only a great philosopher but also a great man of letter in Chinese history.He has exerted great influence on later generation in terms of moral thought,philosophy,literature,language and culture and so on.Through the works of many scholars,many achievements have been gained. However,almost all the research is from the perspective of literary interpretation, commenting,philosophical analysis or textual criticism.Hardly did scholars interpret Chuang-Tzu from the perspective of metaphor,much less than of the cognitive metaphor.Thus there is a great need to interpret Chuang-Tzu and metaphors in Chuang-Tzu from the perspective of cognitive metaphor.With the illumination of Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory,the present author thinks the whole Chuang-Tzu is a big metaphor.Through careful study the present author found seven metaphors in Chuang-Tzu:+TAO IS WATER+;+FREEDOM IS PENG+;+LIFE IS A DREAM+;+MAN IS A HORSE+;+EQUALITY OF THINGS IS BUTTERFLY+; +TE IS FREAK+;+UTILITY OF FUTILITY IS A BIG TREE TRUNK+.Then the author analyzes the similarity between the source domain and target domain of the seven metaphors one by one.Just these vivid metaphors make Chuang Tzu show his ideology and his philosophy in a persuasive and attracting way.These conceptual metaphors also exert great influence on later moral thought and culture and play a very important part in people's conceptualization in daily life.The present thesis interprets Chinese classic literature and elaborates the commonality of cognitive metaphor from a new perspective.Actually,metaphor is not only a matter of language but also a universal way for people to think,to behave and to express.