Metaphors, Dead and Alive
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-359678
- This paper examins how the medieval distinction between proper and improper signification can give a plausible explanation of both metaphorical use and the usual transformations a language can undergo. I will show how Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between ordinary ambiguous terms and metaphors, whereas William of Ockham and Walter Burley do not leave room for this distinction. I will argue that Ockham’s conception of transfer of sense through subsequent institution of words is best thought of as an explanation of how ordinary usage can containThis paper examins how the medieval distinction between proper and improper signification can give a plausible explanation of both metaphorical use and the usual transformations a language can undergo. I will show how Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between ordinary ambiguous terms and metaphors, whereas William of Ockham and Walter Burley do not leave room for this distinction. I will argue that Ockham’s conception of transfer of sense through subsequent institution of words is best thought of as an explanation of how ordinary usage can contain ambiguities, whereas Burley’s conception of transfer of sense without new imposition is more plausible when it comes to explaining metaphors. If metaphorical use is lumped together with equivocation, the account of how they work cannot do full justice to either, an insight that we already find in Peter Abelard, if not in Boethius.…
Author: | Martin Klein |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-359678 |
Document Type: | Book article / Book chapter |
Faculties: | Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften (Philos., Psycho., Erziehungs- u. Gesell.-Wissensch.) / Institut für Philosophie |
Language: | English |
Parent Title (English): | Metaphysics Through Semantics: The Philosophical Recovery of the Medieval Mind |
Editor: | Joshua P. Hochschild, Turner C. Nevitt, Adam Wood, Gábor Borbély |
Year of Completion: | 2023 |
Publisher: | Springer |
Schriftenreihe: | International Archives of the History of Ideas / Archives internationales d’histoire des idées 242 |
Source: | Martin Klein: „Metaphors, Dead and Alive“, in: J. P. Hochschild et al. (eds.), Metaphysics Through Semantics: The Philosophical Recovery of the Medieval Mind, International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d’histoire des idées 242, Springer 2023, 133–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15026-5_8 |
URL: | https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-15026-5_8 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15026-5_8 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 10 Philosophie / 109 Histor. Behandlung, Behandlung mehrerer Einzelpersonen |
Tag: | Aquinas; Burley; Ockham; equivocation; imposition; metaphor; signification; transference |
Release Date: | 2024/05/13 |
Embargo Date: | 2024/04/27 |
Note: | Subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use (https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-terms). |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |