Metaphor

Lecture 8. Non-linear semiotics. Rhetoric.

Figures of speech. Trope. Metaphor

Turn of meaning

linear Non-linear

Semiotics (subject to revision)• Lecture 1. Introduction• Lecture 2. History of semiotics• Lecture 3. The classics of semiotics Peirce, Saussure, Morris, Hjelmslev• Lecture 4. Modern semioticians. Uexkuel, Greimas • Lecture 5. Sign and meaning• Lecture 6. Models of the sign• Lecture 7. Sign typology• Lecture 8. Non-linear semiotics. Rhetoric. Figures of speech. Trope. Metaphor• Paper (choose one of the following formulations):

– Semiotic approach to [subtopic]…– Semiotics and [subtopic] – Subtopic examples: cognition, communication)– >= 4000 words– Due to May, 19

• Lecture 9. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis• Lecture 10. Signs in communication• Examination: end-of-term exam, written and oral form. May, 19; 14 pm

Examination and assessment

• Examination: end-of-term exam, written and oral form. May, 19; 14 pm

• Assessment: Class work 20% of final grade, project (paper) 30%, end-of-term exam 50%

Rhetoric -

“The art of using language so as to persuade or influence others. Although rhetoric is apparently opposed to the philosophical ideal of the exact pursuit of truth, their reconciliation has sometimes seemed desirable. If one thinks of philosophy as a matter of argument rather than doctrine . . . Then rhetoric is good practice in argument.”

(Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy)

Figures of speech• Scholars of classical Western rhetoric have

divided figures of speech into two main categories: schemes and tropes. – Schemes (from the Greek schēma, form or shape)

are figures of speech in which there is a deviation from the ordinary or expected pattern of words.

• For example, the phrase, "John, my best friend" uses the scheme known as apposition.

– Tropes (from the Greek tropein, to turn) involve changing or modifying the general meaning of a term.

• An example of a trope is the use of irony, which is the use of word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning ("For Brutus is an honorable man; / So, are they all, honorable men").

• From: wikipedia. Figure of speech

Schemes, examples

• tautology: needless repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, etc. (Webster); Redundancy due to superfluous qualification; saying the same thing– E.g., necessary essentials

anastrophe: Inversion of the usual word order • antithesis: The juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting

ideas parallelism: The use of similar structures in two or more

clauses • pleonasm: The use of superfluous or redundant words

Trope

Definitions of trope

• Trope: a figure of speech involving shifts in the meaning of words.

Trope

• derived from the Greek noun τρόποϛ, meaning «turn, direction» and the Greek verb τρεπειν, meaning «to turn».

• 2. A figure of speech involving a turn of meaning. • A word or sentence not used in its normal or

propesense, achieving a new signification through the relation it establishes with other elements of the text, giving or emphrasis energy, life, to an idea.

• Figurative use of language.• Dictionnaire ... http://www.ditl.info/arttest/art4480.php

• Trope comes from the Greek word, tropos, which means a "turn", as in heliotrope, a flower which turns toward the sun. We can imagine a trope as a way of turning a word away from its normal meaning, or turning it into something else.

• A trope is a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i.e. using a word in a way other than what is considered its literal or normal form. The other major category of figures of speech is the scheme, which involves changing the pattern of words in a sentence.

• A number of tropes have been identified, among them:• metonymy as in association. • irony as in contraries. • metaphor as in comparatives. • synecdoche as in the distribution of the whole into the part. • wikipedia

trope

• Pronunciation: (trōp), 1. Rhet. a. any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense. b. an instance of this. Cf. figure of speech. 2. a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish. 3. (in the philosophy of Santayana) the principle of organization according to which matter moves to form an object during the various stages of its existence.

• Trope synonyms: image, figure, figure of speech,

Types of tropes

Metonymy

• In this figure (m’ tawn ni’mee) one thing is replaced by another thing associated with it:

• The Crown is amused (“The Crown” is the Queen).

• The White House is furious (“The White House” is the President).

Metonymy• In rhetoric and cognitive linguistics, metonymy (in Greek μετά (meta) = after/later

and όνομα (onoma) = name) (pronounced /mɛ.tɒ'nə.mi/) is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity. It is also known as denominatio or pars pro toto (part for the whole). In cognitive linguistics, metonymy is one of the basic characteristics of cognition. It is extremely common for people to take one well-understood or easy-to-perceive aspect of something and use that aspect to stand either for the thing as a whole or for some other aspect or part of it.

• In rhetoric, metonymy is the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated. When discussing figures of speech, it is often easiest to start with some clear examples. The following are clear, commonly used examples of metonymy:– "The pen is mightier than the sword"; pen is a metonym for

"discourse/negotiation/persuasion" and sword is a metonym for "war." – "White House," the president of the United States and advisors. – "Whitehall," the British government. – "The press," to refer to the news media (especially newspapers). – "A dish," to refer to an entree. – "Hollywood" to refer to the American film industry. – A capital city to refer to a government.

• Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy

Metaphor, metonymy synecdoche

• Metaphor: something is something else– “Love is a rose.”

• Simile: something is like something else• “[His] hand was like the clasp of an iron gate” (p.

1126)• Metonymy: one entity stands for another

associated entity– “The pen is mightier than the sword.”– “I’m studying Shakespeare.”

• Synecdoche: using part of an object to represent the whole– “All hands on deck!”

Metaphor and simile

• Metaphor: – Equating two unlike objects – “The moon is a balloon.”

• Simile:– Comparing two unlike objects using like, as,

than, or similar to – “The moon is like a balloon.”

Other tropes• Metaphor: A trope in which a word or phrase is transferred from its literal meaning to stand for something else. Unlike a simile, in which

something is said to be "like" something else, a metaphor says something is something else. Example: "Debt is a bottomless sea."• Metonymy: A trope that substitutes an associated word for one that is meant. Example: Using "top brass" to refer to military officers.

• Oxymoron: A trope that connects two contradictory terms. Example: “Bill is a cheerful pessimist.”

• Periphrasis: A trope in which one substitutes a descriptive word or phrase for a proper noun. Example: “The big man upstairs hears your prayers.”

• Personification: A trope in which human qualities or abilities are assigned to abstractions or inanimate objects. Example: “Integrity thumbs its nose at pomposity.”

• Pun: A play on words in which a homophone is repeated but used in a different sense. Examples: “She was always game for any game."

• Rhetorical Question: A trope in which the one asks a leading question. Example: "With all the violence on TV today, is it any wonder kids bring guns to school?"

• Simile: A trope in which one states a comparison between two things that are not alike but have similarities. Unlike metaphors, similes employ "like" or "as." Example: "Her eyes are as blue as a robin's egg."

• Synecdoche: A trope in which a part stands for the whole. Example: "Tom just bought a fancy new set of wheels."

• Zeugma: A trope in which one verb governs several words, or clauses, each in a different sense. Example: “He stiffened his drink and his spine.”

• From: Tropes and Schemes. http://rhetorica.net/tropes.htm

Metaphor

“Time is money”

Metaphor: narrow and broad sense

• Narrow sense: a particular trope.

• Broad sense: all tropes

Metaphor, etymology

• Originally, metaphor was a Greek word meaning "transfer". The Greek etymology is from meta, implying "a change" and pherein meaning "to bear, or carry". In modern Greek, the word metaphor also means transport or transfer. Wikipedia.

• Originally metaphor was a Greek word for "transfer". It came from meta ("change") and pherein ("carry"). So the word metaphor in English was a metaphor, too. Today in Greek, metaphor is a trolley (a thing you push, to carry shopping or bags).

• Metaphor (wikipedia): An implied comparison of two things

• Retrieved from "http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor"

Two classical treatments of metaphor

• as extraordinary language

• as decorative

Aristotle

“the application to one thing of the name belonging to another”- Aristotle (metaphor as insightful manner of speech)

The most ingenious of Aristotle’s conclusions is that metaphor is above all a tool of cognition. - Umberto Eco, on Aristotle

By far the greatest thing is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others. It is a sign of genius, for a good metaphor implies intuitive perception of similarity among dissimilars

- Aristotle

Classical Treatment of Metaphor as Extraordinary Language

• Aristotle:create an unusual element in the diction by

their not being in ordinary speechMetaphor should not be “ridiculous,” “to

grand,” “too much in the vein of tragedy,” or “our far fetched.”

• Cicero:The metaphor should bear some

resemblance to what it pictures, and it should give clarity to a point rather than confuse it.

Classical Treatment of Metaphor As Decorative

• Aristotle:

Gives clear this, charm, and distinction to style

• Cicero:

There is no mode of embellishment . . . That throws a greater luster are upon language

Contemporary, Expanded View of Metaphor

• Friedrich Nietzsche – metaphor is a process whereby we encounter our world.

• Kenneth Burke – metaphor plays an important role in the discovery and description of our world.

• Max Black – metaphor is a screen for structuring and organizing our view of the world.

Kenneth Burke

• Burke (and against Aristotle): names don’t “belong” to objects, rather naming is a creative act which positions people to certain actions and attitudes so, metaphor isn’t really “this in terms of that”, it revises BOTH “this” and “that”.

Nietzsche

• There is no `real' expression and no real knowing apart from metaphor. but deception on this point remains [...] The most accustomed metaphors, the usual ones, now pass for truths and as standards for measuring the rarer ones. The only intrinsic difference here is the difference between custom and novelty, frequency and rarity. Knowing is nothing but working with the favorite metaphors, and imitating which is no longer felt to be an imitation.‘- Nietzsche (metaphor as necessary for knowing)

Definitions of Metaphor

• Metaphor - Application of name or descriptive term to another object which is not literally applicable– Use: Natural transfer - apply existing

knowledge to new, abstract tasks– Problem: May introduce incorrect mental

model

• A comparison of two dissimilar items that shows how one might have some of the qualities of the other

“a figure of speech in which a name, action, or description is applied to another to suggest a likeness between them”

The Winston Dictionary

• Metaphor is defined as the replacement of one idea or object with another, used to assist expression or understanding.

• In literary studies, metaphor is treated as a trope which facilitates an implicit comparison

• “Living” metaphors: considered as original metaphors (the internet is an information superhighway.)

• “Dead” metaphors: incorporated into normal usage (I am open to suggestions.)

• Metaphor is usually used to compare two unlike things, which in result improve our understanding.

• Metaphor can be used as “filter” for our perceptions. If inaccurately used, they may distort information or cause false generalizations.

Strength and limitation of metaphor messages

• Metaphors are most of the time below our level of conscious awareness.

• Metaphors powerfully influence us, shaping our perspectives and actions.

Types

Verbal and visual

Visual metaphor

Dead metaphor; Demetaphorization and

remetaphorization • Through multiple recurrence metaphors can

finally become conventionalized and therewith a part of the language norm, i.e. a symbol (according to Peirce)

• Degrees:– Lexicalized metaphors, e.g., bottleneck– Opaque, e.g., radical: literally ‘from the root’– Dead, e.g., (news) magazine: originally magazine

meant ‘storehouse’• Conventionalization can be reversed in the

poetic device of remetaphorization or resurection (of a dead metaphor)

Antimetaphor, a boundary case

• An absolute or paralogical metaphor (sometimes called an antimetaphor) is one in which there is no discernible point of resemblance between the idea and the image. Example: "The couch is the autobahn of the living room."

• From wikipedia

Examples of metaphor

• A wolf in sheep's clothing

• The heart of the computer

• The neck of the bottle • The leg of the chair • The computer

bottleneck • A captain of industry

• The market leader • The king of the jungle• The brain of the

organization • The lifeblood of the

company • Sitting on a bed of

lettuce • A hot new product

– My new car is a lemon– Time is money– The night has a thousand eyes and the day but one.– Jack is a pussycat.– Jack is a lion.

• “My Love is a flower” suggests delicacy and beauty.

• “My love is an open book” suggests honesty and frankness.

• “My love is a rock” suggests stability and permanence.

• “My love is my life” suggests dedication and total dependence.

Everyday Metaphors

• Raining cats and dogs• Caught red handed• Shoot yourself in the foot• Go down the drain• N.B. Most of these are clichés.

The Metaphor Observatory

• The Metaphor Observatory is dedicated to detecting metaphor usage in contemporary media, as a means of tracking society's true sentiments and predicting our anthropological trajectory.

• http://metaphorobservatory.blogspot.com/2005/12/top-ten-metaphors-of-2005.html

Top Ten Metaphors of the year 2005

• Here's a short version of the list, followed by the full explanations:

• - "...political fallout from the scandal." - "Unfolding the road map to peace." - "A tidal wave of generousity." - "A fusion of technology and personality." - "New Orleans became filled with a toxic gumbo."- "Sprite ReMix Aruba Jam." - "The Gulf Coast is a catcher's mitt for hurricanes."- "I've got a thousand songs in my iPod." "The housing bubble has burst." - "A storm of controversy.".“ From: http://metaphorobservatory.blogspot.com/2005/12/top-ten-metaphors-of-2005.html

Models of metaphor

Parts of a metaphor

• tenor and vehicle (I. A. Richards ); The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936),

• target and source (George Lakoff)• Further analysis: ground and the

tension. – The ground consists of the similarities

between the tenor and the vehicle. The tension of the metaphor consists of the dissimilarities between the tenor and the vehicle.

Example

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players They have their exits and their entrances; — (William

Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7)

• This well known quote is a good example of a metaphor. In this example, "the world" is compared to a stage, the aim being to describe the world by taking well-known attributes from the stage. In this case, the world is the tenor and the stage is the vehicle. "Men and women" are a secondary tenor and "players" is the vehicle for this secondary tenor.

[Target “is like” Source]

Juliet is like the sunCigarettes are like time bombs

Phonological structure:

“is” and “is like” forms

both source and target domain concepts are explicit

Semantic structure:

Unlike conventional metaphor, structure mapping in analogy is not conventional.

Conventional metaphors are stored domain relations.

Analogies are a process of domain structure mapping.

Analogy

The Rutherford analogy: The atom is like the solar system

Solar system maps onto Atomic system

Gentner (1983, 1987)Analogy maps structural relations, but not properties or objects

sun nucleus

Things gas *light *

Properties hot *massive *yellow *

Relations revolves around okattracts okmore massive than ok

[electron is to nucleus] as [planet is to sun]

Object/property similarity is not very interesting or informative.The sun is like an orange

A metaphor is a relation between two disparate domains

AN ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING

Source domain Target domain

ARGUMENT BUILDING

Metaphors are conventional (stored) domain relations manifested by ordinary linguistic expressions.

We need to buttress the theory with more evidenceThat’s a sound argumentYour argument has a strong foundationWe demolished their theory

Metaphor

CONSCIOUS IS UP - UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWNWake up - He fell asleep

HEALTH AND LIFE ARE UP - SICKNESS AND DEATH ARE DOWNHe's at the peak of health - He came down with the flu.

HAVING CONTROL OR FORCE IS UP - BEING SUBJECT TO CONTROL OR FORCE IS DOWN

I am on top of this situation - He fell from power.

MORE QUANTITY IS UP - LESS QUANTITY IS DOWNThe number of books printed every year keeps going up - The number of errors

he made is incredibly low.

HIGH STATUS IS UP - LOW STATUS IS DOWNShe'll rise to the top - She fell in status.

GOOD IS UP - BAD IS DOWNThings are looking up - Things are at an all-time low.

VIRTUE IS UP - DEPRAVITY IS DOWNShe is an upstanding citizen - That was a low-down thing to do.

UNKNOWN IS UP - KNOWN IS DOWNThat's up in the air - The matter is settled.

The Metaphor MORE IS UP has High Productivity(examples from Lakoff & Johnson 1980)

Metaphors in Language and Vision

vertical

perceiver

oriertation

visual expression linguisitic expression

low

internal representation

external representation

VERTICAL SPACE

low

vertical

VERTICAL SPACE QUALITY/QUANTITY

SOURCE DOMAIN TARGET DOMAIN

more

less

up

down

Conceptualmetaphor

Metaphoricalexpressions

MORE IS UPLESS IS DOWN

Lakoff

Lakoff & Johnson (1980): Metaphors We Live By

“Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.” (page 3)

Traditional false assumptions

• All everyday conventional language is literal, and none is metaphorical.

• All subject matter can be comprehended literally, without metaphor.

• Only literal language can be contingently true or false. • All definitions given in the lexicon of a language are

literal, not metaphorical. • The concepts used in the grammar of a language are all

literal; none are metaphorical.• From: George Lakoff. The Contemporary Theory of

Metaphor.

The Nature of Metaphor• Metaphor is the main mechanism through which we comprehend

abstract concepts and perform abstract reasoning. • Much subject matter, from the most mundane to the most abstruse

scientific theories, can only be comprehended via metaphor. • Metaphor is fundamentally conceptual, not linguistic, in nature. • Metaphorical language is a surface manifestation of conceptual

metaphor. • Though much of our conceptual system is metaphorical, a

significant part of it is nonmetaphorical. Metaphorical understanding is grounded in nonmetaphorical understanding.

• Metaphor allows us to understand a relatively abstract or inherently unstructured subject matter in terms of a more concrete, or at least a more highly structured subject matter.

• From: George Lakoff. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor.

Metaphor is mapping(static)

source domain target domain

The Structure of Metaphor• Metaphors are mappings across conceptual domains. • Such mappings are asymmetric and partial. • Each mapping is a fixed set of ontological correspondences between

entities in a source domain and entities in a target domain. • When those fixed correspondences are activated, mappings can project

source domain inference patterns onto target domain inference patterns. • Metaphorical mappings obey the Invariance Principle: The image-schema

structure of the source domain is projected onto the target domain in a way that is consistent with inherent target domain structure.

• Mappings are not arbitrary, but grounded in the body and in everyday experience and knowledge.

• A conceptual system contains thousands of conventional metaphorical mappings, which form a highly structured subsystem of the conceptual system.

• There are two types of mappings: conceptual mappings and image- mappings; both obey the Invariance Principle.

• From: George Lakoff. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor.

“metaphors facilitate thought by providing an experiential framework in which newly acquired, abstract concepts may be accommodated.”

- Lakoff (metaphor as fundamental to all cognition and awareness)

“conceptual blending”

“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arrise fair sun and kill the envious moon. She is already sick and pale with grief”

juliet sun

sun: giver of life, rises in the east, majestic, all-powerful, etc.

juliet: love at first sight, beautiful, reason to live, etc.

A Semiotic Model of Metaphor:Pierce, Lakoff & Johnson

Modeling Metaphor

Modeling MetaphorMetaphorical Entailment

A Metaphor is a Sign Generator

Entailment Linkage

XP System Metaphor

Written assignment (hardcopy)

• Topic: formulate your opinion on the figures of speech, trope, metaphor (aproximately 500 words)

• Compile a text from the internet search results, including full bibliographic descriptions of the entries. Analyze the text and formulate your own opinion on the topic

• Due: next week

Metaphor links

• I. A. Richards. The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936)

• Metaphor Examples. [lists examples of metaphor by experiential category, including spatial and sensory metaphors] http://knowgramming.com/metaphors/metaphor_chapters/examples.htm

• Conceptual_metaphor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor

• George Lakoff. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. 1992. To Appear in Ortony, Andrew (ed.) Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition), Cambridge University Press. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~market/semiotic/lkof_met.html

Second order signs, connotation

Barthes: cultural myths are second-order signs

• Semiology and myth. Barthes' many monthly contributions that made up Mythologies (1957) would often interrogate pieces of cultural material to expose For instance, portrayal of wine in French society as a robust and healthy habit would be a bourgeois ideal perception how bourgeois society used them to assert its values upon others. contradicted by certain realities (i.e. that wine can be unhealthy and inebriating). He found semiology, the study of signs, useful in these interrogations. Barthes explained that these bourgeois cultural myths were second-order signs, or significations. A picture of a full, dark bottle is a signifier relating to a signified: a fermented, alcoholic beverage - wine. However, the bourgeois take this signified and apply their own emphasis to it, making ‘wine’ a new signifier, this time relating to a new signified: the idea of healthy, robust, relaxing wine. Motivations for such manipulations vary from a desire to sell products to a simple desire to maintain the status quo. These insights brought Barthes very much in line with similar Marxist theory.

• In The Fashion System Barthes showed how this adulteration of signs could easily be translated into words. In this work he explained how in the fashion world any word could be loaded with idealistic bourgeois emphasis. Thus, if popular fashion says that a ‘blouse’ is ideal for a certain situation or ensemble, this idea is immediately naturalized and accepted as truth, even though the actual sign could just as easily be interchangeable with ‘skirt’, ‘vest’ or any number of combinations. In the end Barthes Mythologies became absorbed itself into bourgeois culture, as he found many third parties asking him to comment on a certain cultural phenomenon, being interested in his control over his readership. This turn of events caused him to question the overall utility of demystifying culture for the masses, thinking it might be a fruitless attempt, and drove him deeper in his search for individualistic meaning in art.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes

Patterns as second order signs

• Object-oriented design patterns can be analysed as signs. A pattern-description is a sign where a pattern’s solution is the signifier and the intent is the signified.

• Then, a pattern is a second order sign where a name is a signifier and a pattern-description is the signified. Treating patterns as signs provides us with an analytic framework that is based on semiotics, rather than logic, mathematics, mysticism, or a metaphor without a name. Using this framework, we have addressed a number of common questions about patterns — explicating patterns that propose similar designs or have similar intents, that have many names or share names, and clarifying the relationships between patterns. Semiotics also allows us to analyse misinterpretations of patterns, and the role of patterns in creating an evolving common vocabulary of program design. We hope that this framework can provide a platform for future progress in the research and application of design patterns.

• From: Patterns as Signs. James Noble and Robert Biddle. Computer Science. Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand. www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~kjx/papers/e03.pdf

First-order, second-order signs

• John Fiske speaks of the TV sign being organized and interpretable at three levels called orders of signification: first-order signs are representational, second-order signs are connotative, third order signs are to be interpreted in terms of subjective responses which are shared, to a degree, by all members of a culture - intersubjectivity.

• Introduction. We would like to highlight some of the premises for our argument that advertising on Romanian TV can and does lend itself to transcultural reading. The TV signs1, most visibly in advertisements, carry sometimes `surplus' meanings that are not always available at surface reading. They conflate not only representations but also meanings of the second order: connotations or cultural meanings. When these cultural meanings transgress the socio-cultural coordinates of a distinct national community to meet those of another national `entity', they multiply and diversify accordingly the semantic potential of the TV sign. The result might be that the subsequent readings of the sign by the different cultural subjects will not coincide, for the cultural frameworks applied differ, as expected. This is an instance of transculturation at work. To this we should add three more aspects to clarify the current television tableau for the Romanian audience, which, like audiences everywhere, can be reached by the global and local programmes through advanced technologies.

• From: Diana Cotrãu. A Transcultural Reading of Television Advertising. JSRI • No.12 /Winter 2005 p . 76 http://hiphi.ubbcluj.ro/JSRI/html%20version/index/no_12/untitl7.htm

Baudrillard on first, second and third order signs

• Baudrillard's concept of 'sign-value' on the orders of simulacra is especially relevant. Beyond first order signs where images represent reality, second order signs are characterised by a reality that is disguised by appearance. The third order involves 'production,' where "appearances create their illusion of reality." The final order -- simulation -- marks the stage of the virtual, wherein images "invent reality" itself. At this stage, "the real is not only what can be reproduced but that which is always being reproduced": the 'hyperreal'. The question posed by international relations writer James Der Derian after the Gulf War was this: "whether simulations can create a new world order where actors act, things happen, and the consequences have no origins except the artificial cyberspace of simulations themselves." The strategies of 'finding' bin Laden have therefore involved a pursuit of an amalgam between Benjamin's deauratized bin Laden and Baudrillard's simulated bin Laden. Bin Laden circulates in a representational purgatory; the image-world perpetually resurrects him.

• From: http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=355

Metaphor and Argument

• Seen as decoration, metaphor plays no role in argument.

• Seen as a way of knowing, metaphor has a particular relationship to argument.– metaphor does not simply support and argument; the

metaphor itself is an argument.