18-22

小石卒

Summary
These five chapters shift from theoretical construction to the creative functions of metaphors. They reveal how metaphors shape conceptual structures, generate new meanings, and reconstruct our perception of reality.
In Chapter 18, the author criticizes traditional objectivist cognitive theories and argues that metaphorical conceptual structures are the foundation of thinking. For example, the metaphor “time is space” dictates how we use language, influencing expressions related to time. In Chapter 19, the author defines concepts that rely on metaphors, stating that all abstract concepts must be defined through concrete metaphorical images. Take the concept of “freedom”, for instance, which is shaped by metaphors such as “freedom as space” and “freedom as wealth”.
In Chapter 20, the author posits that grammatical forms are products of metaphors. The spatial metaphorical extensions of the preposition “in” and the spatialization of time in verb tenses illustrate this point. In the following chapters, the author demonstrates how new meanings are generated through cross-domain mapping. Finally, in Chapter 22, he argues that similarity is not discovered but created. The perceived similarity between war and business, for example, stems from the metaphorical projection of “business is war”.
Evaluation
In these chapters, the author completely subverts traditional cognitive theories’ superstition in “objective thinking”, pushing metaphors from the marginal status of linguistic rhetoric to the core of cognitive mechanisms. He critiques traditional objectivism, establishes metaphors as generators of meaning, and explains to us the duality of metaphors and the liberation of thinking.
I believe this duality reveals the dynamic essence of cognition: we are both shaped by metaphors and can break through existing frameworks by creating new ones. This has made me realize that true freedom does not lie in escaping metaphors, but in recognizing their constructive nature.
Reflection
From these chapters, I have also gained some practical insights. They not only stay at the theoretical level but also point to solutions for our real-world cognitive dilemmas. I believe they help deconstruct the metaphorical roots of modern anxiety. When metaphors like “time is money” become mainstream, people unconsciously reduce life to a quantified competition, and the author’s analysis offers a cognitive dimension to understand this modern anxiety—at its core, anxiety may be the result of being controlled by a single metaphorical system. Therefore, I think we should advocate for metaphorical pluralism, as the author also calls for introducing diversity in metaphors into education and public discourse.
This approach can break the monopoly of dominant metaphors, such as replacing the single “economy is a machine” framework with “ecology is a network” to restore the complexity of environmental issues. By cultivating awareness of metaphorical multiplicity, individuals can gain the ability to reflect on cognitive frameworks—for example, when feeling anxious about “wasting time”, questioning whether this stems from the “time is a resource to be saved” metaphor, and consciously adopting alternative metaphors like “time is a river to be experienced’ to broaden life perspectives. In essence, recognizing that metaphors are tools for constructing reality rather than reality itself is the first step toward escaping cognitive enslavement.