Were you aware of how often we paint mental pictures with our figures of speech? It happens just as regularly as the moon chases the sun. You just can’t seem to escape from them.
1. Read and consider these two articles Metaphors We Live By and In Defense of Metaphors in Science. If you are having trouble viewing the second document, click on this link to a word document, In Defense of Metaphors in Science. Then develop a comment and post on this web site.
2. Argue both for and against using metaphors in our language. What are the strengths and the weaknesses of such expressions? What knowledge questions emerge from this discussion?
Bonus: Give an example of a metaphor in science. Then think of a new metaphor for the concept. How does changing the metaphor change how with think? Example: “The Big Bang” could instead be “The Big Squeeze”
Metaphors of life and Metaphors of science
1. In life we use metaphors as was to live by. It affects us in society and people look at our society, metaphors govern us in a variety of manners all the way down to our core thinking. Scientific metaphors to the general public are harder to understand. It’s a whole other language on its own, and only people with the interest choose to develop t further than the general learning.
2. Metaphors are in constant use in our lives. Whether or not we know it, metaphors shape our way of thought and how we perceive the world. Metaphors are creative messages and in some ways philosophical, but metaphors are not always literal. Metaphors are said as if they had a literal meaning when it doesn’t. For example the metaphor “His head was spinning with ideas.” It refers to a person who has an abundance of ideas, but it does not mean his head is literally spinning nor do we see ideas physically going around his head. So how do we as humans know and understand when it is meant to be literal and not literal? How do we learn and understand metaphors as they are?
3. (Bonus) The metaphor “We live in an elegant universe” how would it be perceived if it was named “We live in a complex yet simple universe.” This would change the way I think about our universe, because we live in a universe that is quite complex in a variety ways, and yet we are all simple. All the events and everything we see in life and the universe are as is, and yet at the same time everything is in constant motion, and something in the universe is always changing.
Metaphor is useful in science when it comes to describing the result of an experiment or a theory. For example, if scientists just say that the sun is made up of hydrogen gas; people might think that the sun is just a bunch of hydrogen gas flying around. But when scientists say that the sun is a ball of hydrogen gas; people get the image that the sun is round. The metaphor that describes the sun as a ball of hydrogen gas gives the people a clearer image of what the sun looks like than just hydrogen gas flying around.
Metaphors, although many may not know, is a part of our daily language. Phrases such as “ Time is Money” and “She gave me the idea” are all metaphors. We compare time to money because we find that time is valuable. We know that we cannot directly “hand” over something or an idea to someone else, but we use it to indicate that that person told us his/her idea. Everyone uses metaphors, whether they know it or not. We use metaphors to “make our thoughts more vivid and interesting” and “structure our perceptions and understanding” (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson). But metaphors does have its limits because a “specific metaphor might work for some people, it won’t for others” (Caleb Scharf).
How dull will life be without any metaphors in our language?
*BONUS*
An example of metaphor in science is “Family Tree.” We use a family tree to indicate a family generation.
Metaphors are unknowingly expressed verbally in many various ways throughout the culture we Americans live today. Several ways that I definitely agree are about how metaphors can be involved in when talking thinking, or learning. According Metaphors We Live By, authors Lakoff and Johnson mentioned that the calculated occurrences of metaphorical expressions are “at least 70%” in our modernly spoken language. Metaphors are really beneficial because it brings a greater visual understanding among one another in a spoken conversation or discussion—it helps to shape our thinking of how we live educationally. However as a weakness, metaphors can too be unknowingly exposed and taken into literally. For example, it is often occurred in relationships, that among men and women, one’s heart is broken into pieces. One’s heart isn’t literally broken into pieces, the person is just emotionally offended.
Knowledge Questions: How do metaphors affect how our ways of knowing (perception, emotion, language, and reasoning)?
Does living in a certain cultural environment affect how we speak metaphorically?
Hey! These are great questions for us to consider. Thank you.
Mr. Coey
Metaphors help with communication and can trigger imagination. But, metaphors can also affect how we reason and the opinions we have. People reason differently with the same metaphor because they take it in a different way. Someone may take the metaphor literally while another person takes it figuratively. Problems may arise with this because we don’t know what the metaphor means unless the author describes it. This is one of the weaknesses with using metaphors. On the other hand, if the metaphor is not described, we can still interpret the metaphor different ways. This is helpful because different opinions and questions will be shared and expressed. This is one of the strengths in using metaphors. In the American culture, there are some metaphors that are used in everyday language. A non-native English speaker or non- American may not know the significance or definition of the metaphor. Translation affects the meaning and importance of the metaphor. How does knowing different languages affect the way we interpret a metaphor? Changing the language of the metaphor, changes the way the metaphor is taken.
Another great insight about language acquisition and figurative language!
Mr. Coey
Metaphors are omnipresent in scientific language whether you are aware of them or not. They are used to describe rather complex concepts in a simple way, making it relatable to us simpletons. We often humanize something inhuman to grasp at its nature, making volcanoes “angry” and black holes “hungry.”
However, these metaphors are inaccurate and can give something characteristics that it does not have. Metaphors are meant for the layman, the commoner; the people who need them to approach understanding. Science is based on facts, and needs to be clear and concise. Real scientists already understand the concept, and don’t need a slightly blurred interpretation. While “dry facts” may be boring to some, reality can be fascinating to the educated mind.
An example of a metaphor in science that could be renamed is a “wormhole.” These elusive phenomena are scattered throughout science (fiction), and are described as “tunnels between the folds of the Universe.” Like a shortcut. But there is no cosmic space worm burrowing through the dimensions. Probably. These could be called “magic space tunnels” or “convenient plot points” instead.
I had never thought of how many metaphors we use in the course of a day until I read the articles and learned that we tend to compare time and money. We use metaphors everyday subliminally and we don’t realize it.
In today’s age we use metaphors and don’t see the correlation between them. One of the good things about using metaphors is that the use of metaphors is striking, thought provoking, and fascinating. We can compare two things and make them resemble each other, even if they have nothing in common. However, metaphors can be a nuisance, because when people from other countries hear them, they don’t know not to take them literally. Can the use of metaphors make a boring story, an exciting story? Are metaphors a necessity in the english language?
One of the metaphors used in science is the “Mechanisms of Evolution” this metaphor compares evolution and a machine. It describes nature as a machine, by stating that evolution takes several steps to occur. A machine uses many steps to complete an action, it can accomplish one task and then that leads to another task, all the way until it reaches the end result. In evolution, the humans started as apes and then slowly started to evolve into humans over the course of several thousand years.
1. While reading “Metaphors We Live By” by George Lakeoff and Mark Johnson I didn’t realize that we were using metaphors everyday of our life. I also figured that metaphors are a type of characteristic of a language alone in thoughts and actions. Having metaphors helps us get around to places and help us relate with others with the type of structure that metaphor has. What we don’t realize is that we use it every day, its primarily part of our language when we speak.
2. The uses of metaphors can be deceiving and strong because it all depends what you say and how you say it to another person. It can also depend on who you’re saying it too. For example if you were to say a nice metaphor than you can pull it off but if you were to say metaphor that can offend another person, then you’re in trouble. The strength in metaphors is that you can outsmart another person, like having sarcasm. Another is that we don’t realize that we use it every day and it helps us through the life time. Just because we use it every day doesn’t mean that it’s also the best thing, metaphors can also have words that people don’t understand. Sometimes when you use metaphors people don’t understand what you were saying unless you explain it thoroughly of what you were trying to say. Some knowledge questions that can be brought up from this discussion is, when we do say metaphors, do we completely understand what its saying or what we really mean? What are the uses of metaphors when we use it against other people? What other subjects can we use metaphors in other than science?
Bonus: Science Metaphors
1) “Biology is woven into the fabrics of our culture more than ever before and can help answer many questions that affect our lives” (P.1).
2) “But along with the diversity we find many shared feathers” (Campbell Reece).
3) “All cells share certain characteristics” (Campbell Reece).
4) “He fashioned two versions of fake snakes….” (P.21)
Interesting examples from the book! Who knew?
Coey
1) Metaphors are like pictures to me. After reading the articles I realized that all my life I have been using metaphors and I feel quite astounded. Now that I think about the phrases that we usually say, the majority of them are metaphors such as; I am the king, you are sick, etcetera. Metaphors are part of my way of life and I haven’t realized it until this day.
2) Metaphors are talking pictures. By using metaphors when we talk, we portray additional words with our one phrase. This cause a deeper image when describing an image of a person or whatever you’re talking about. If we were to take out metaphors from our language, then we will become similar to robots. Metaphors create indication or emotions through them for example “this is war” creates the feeling of hatred and discontent. For these following reasons, we should keep metaphors in our language. On the contrary, metaphors may be a symbol for destruction and confusion. Metaphors may be too complex that when people hear it, it creates confusion therefore resulting in a dispute or questioning such as what is meant and who is being targeted by the phrase. For these reasons we should stop using metaphors in our language. If we don’t stop the world may be wondering to itself, what in the world are you saying?
Metaphors are a concept that has shaped the way we have communicated with the world around us. Some of the strengths of metaphors are that it allows us to connect multiple linguistic concepts and to reflect them as an individual metaphorical concept. For example, according to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, argument and war can be structured to become the metaphorical concept of “Argument is War”. In this case, arguments can be told in a form of words that relate to war. Some weaknesses include the vagueness of what the metaphor is trying to imply on us. This means that what if the metaphor means this but we interpreted it another way. Problems like these can cause a metaphor to cloud our sense of interpretation and complicate the real meaning. Some knowledge questions that can emerge from this is, “How would science be interpreted if our way of communication did not have any metaphorical phrases?
Another question is, “How would metaphors be viewed if they were all literal and not just figurative also?”
If the metaphors in our everyday lives were stripped away, communications between each other would drasticly change. I mean sure, everything we say would be literal such as instead of saying; Are you blue? we say; Are you sad? There would be less confusion when talking to someone who doesn’t know “your” language, or the way you talk. However, talking would be very dull and our choice of words will almost always have one meaning, such as; What is happining here? While using metaphors in everyday sentences, we spice up our language and put a unique trait to the way we talk. The only downside would be if you’re talking to a stranger, in your metaphoric sentences, they might not know what you talking about and assume you’re either stupid or crazy, or even just screwing around with them. Some questions that might come out are; Why are simple metaphors infused with our daily language? and how did they become so common?
[1] I had never realized how often we used metaphors in our daily encounters with people. After reading ‘Metaphors We Live By’ and ‘In Defense of Metaphors in Science,’ I realized that each and every phrase that we say has a hidden metaphor within it. Even what I’ve written now: ‘hidden metaphor within it’ is a metaphor in itself. It does not literally mean that a metaphor can physically hide itself within a sentence like a child can hide behind a tree, yet because we use such statements at all times, one wouldn’t notice these occurrences.
[2] Argument for Metaphors:
Metaphors should definitely be used in the human language. One cannot speak clearly without using metaphors to express one’s point of view. Even stating something as simple as “You are wasting my time” is using metaphors. This statement ties into the metaphor “Time is money.” You cannot literally waste time, but you can actually waste money [such as when buying at item one does not need etc.] As one can see by just this simple example, metaphors are needed within the English language in order to communicate better and more fluently. Without the metaphors, everything we say would sound like rubbish.
Argument against Metaphors:
Metaphors are not needed within the English language. One does not need to use a metaphor to express oneself; all that one needs is a simple statement that will express one’s opinion thoroughly and perfectly. One does not need to use terms such as “Life is a gift” or “Take it one step at a time” as much as people actually use it. One could simply say “You only live once” or “Be careful in how you handle thing.” Metaphors are not necessary within the English language, and are, in my opinion, a waste of typing space.
Bonus: String Theory
What is the soon to be well known “String Theory” was actually named “Brick Theory” or “Stick Theory?” Would you perception of the topic change or remain the same? Would it make sense if the vibrating strings that are mentioned in the string theory were actually bouncing balls within the universe?
I believe that even changing the name of a theory [or the metaphor within the theory] would entirely change how we think of said theory. If one were told that everything within the universe were actually made of bouncing balls rather than vibrating strings, one would infer that the universe was actually extremely violent and that there was no real order within the universe. But, if one were told the universe were actually made up of stacking bricks that never stop stacking on top of another, one would think the universe were orderly and infinite. Changing the metaphor within a title, sentence, or paragraph definitely affects the way we think, and will give us different perceptions of the topic that was changed.
when using metaphors in science we may be able to generalize the total idea of a topic in mear seconds when just analyzing the figure of speech.the overall generalizations are correct over half of the times we generalize.
metaphors in science are a waste of time. Science is a pure informatory subject that almost never relies on language.Observations make up about 70% of this subject and a metaphor may infact distract whom is reading my hypothesis allowing confusion in the scientific ideas.
The game theory is a metaphor the realistically means it “evaluates alternative strategies in situations were the outcome depends on the strategies of all the individuals involved.”
A strength and weakness of using metaphors in our language is that; without metaphors in our everyday language i believe that every thing we say people would take literally, for example, if a friend asks you “are you feeling down?” which would imply if you were feeling sad or not well would be interpreted as if you were feeling literally down, which does not make any sense what so ever. Although metaphors are used in our daily life, i believe that they should be removed because some people would take some metaphors literally. For example if your friend asked to “not judge a book by its cover” and you took it literally even though it had a different meaning, you would start judging if the book was good or bad based by its cover, the title, the author, and the picture.
Now that you have read my comment, How important do you think the use of metaphors in our daily lives effect us? When do you think it is appropriate or not appropriate to use metaphors?
http://archive.org/details/PhysicsPrinciplesAndProblemsByAGlencoeProgram
Under the slide show, there is a link to a pdf.
http://research.physics.illinois.edu/per/David/Marylandtalk.pdf