The Contextual Analysis And Scientific Explanation Of Metaphor

The study of metaphor is a very important philosophical theme in the linguistic, interpretive and rhetorical turn of contemporary philosophical movement. In chapter I, this paper elaborates the present historical context of metaphor, presents a contextual analysis of metaphor from the perspective of philosophy of language, points out that syntactics construction is the carrier, semantics projection is the essence and pragmatics choice is the creation mode of metaphor in a certain context. Accordingly, the future direction of research towards a contextual theory of metaphor becomes promising. Secondly, it is important to recognize that metaphor plays a significant role in the statement of scientific theories. In chapter II, the author discusses the existence, legitimacy, function and significance of metaphor in the texts of scientific theories, and puts forward that metaphorical thinking is the basis of scientific analogies and models. At last, in the context of postmodern headway of scientific realism, the relations between metaphor and reference, metaphor and logic are discussed. Then a sort of metaphor -based realism is introduced, and an analysis on a typical case: David Bohm's metaphorically constructed physical realism is considered in chapter III.