Fwd: Metaphor in science

[Langoogler]

Sam Lakoff napisał;)
Metaphors by with you!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: George Lakoff <lak...@berkeley.edu>
Date: Sat, Aug 13, 2005 at 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: Metaphor in science
To: cog...@ucsd.edu


Hi,

Let me begin by referring you to Ted Brown's
book, Making Truth: Metaphor in Science/

The entire book is online at:

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/epub/books/brown/toc.htm

Ted is a nationally known chemist, now retired
from the U. of Illinois. He shows that metaphor is
central to the the actual theories throughout the sciences.


Let me then refer you to my book with Rafael
Nunez, Where Mathematics Comes From.
We show that the content of mathematics itself is thoroughly metaphorical.

Also take a peek at chapter 23 of Philosophy in
the Flesh, where Johnson and I show how the
rational actor model itself (central to economic
theory, as well as politics) is thoroughly
metaphorical in its very content.

Metaphor is central to science because it
preserves inference, and allows the results of
the inferences to be tested on observations, when
the math is metaphorically mapped to the
scientific subject matter. They also allow us to
comprehend the science in terms of our familiar
experiences.

Also check out the work of Nancy Nersessian, who
showed how electromagnetioc theory was
metaphorically based on fluid mechanics , with
the math mapped across.

It's nice that there are some solid things to read on this subject now.

George

--
"If they did brain transplants, would you be a donor or a recipient?"
(quoted from The Economist)
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