Written on the Body

This chapter examines the language of illness, sickness, and death in war-time use – in a domain which offered its own conflicted spaces of both erasure and over-lexicalisation, and euphemism alongside dysphemism. As Clark’s ‘Words in War-Time’, records, popular discourses of health readily appropriated military metaphors in ways that evoked other synergies between Home and active fronts (‘If your line of health is “weakly held” strengthen your forces with Bovril’, as advertising in the Scotsman announced in March 1915). In contrast, human vulnerabilities as embedded in trench warfare as literal rather than metaphorical process yielded a rapidly expanding lexicon, evident in the shifting understanding of trench foot, trench fever, and frostbite, or the reorientation of the diction of nerves and nerviness in which shellshock (and raid-shock on the Home Front) can remain prominent legacies.

Metaphorical Use of Algorithm in Legal Reasoning

The current use of big data in the legal framework suggests the idea of algorithm as a new topos of the legal rhetoric. Indeed, in addition to the “rhetoric of algorithm”, an “algorithm of rhetoric” may also exist, in strict connection with an anthropological structure. Even leaving aside its epistemic value, the algorithm is in fact always experienced by the jurist through a metaphorical process, in a very similar way, for instance, to the metaphorical use of graphs in economics (McCloskey). That said, the reasoning about big data is metaphorical as well, and this allows us to believe that there is still a role for pathos and ethos within the legal reasoning. Moreover, and most importantly, the ideal to which the data-based knowledge (the so called dataism) aims—that is, the pretension of being able to map all that there is to know—is metaphorical, too. In this paper I will discuss algorithms and big data in the guise of new topoi. The aim of this paper is therefore to imagine a philosophical-juridical semiotic by means of which it is possible to highlight the persistent difference between reasonableness and reason in the judge’s work. Vis-à-vis algorithms and big data, as well as the rules of law, the judge does not act as bouche de la loi, but rather practices a reason which is irreducibly rhetoric and related to the humanities.

“Aixo era y no era”: The Ontological Paradox of Metaphoric Reference

A quick look on the history of criticism and literary theory of the current period shows curious reversals and strange returns. Indeed one can see the slow and unrelenting disappearance of rhetoric, justly qualified as restricted, since it has been all too often limited to identifying and classifying of the various figures. It has been replaced by a new criticism, a fundamentally formalist one, the assumptions of which are akin to those of the “text sciences”; if the structure, the “poetical function” of the texts were underlined, it was to the detriment of their functional reference and their meaning to put it simply. There is no doubt that today this approach is running out of steam and is meeting some decline. For that reason, the history of literature is coming back in force and finds a new youth with the developments of the theories of perception. But there reappears also a new interest in a semantic approach of the texts, which is concerned with their references. This approach, which comes from logistics (G. Frege), undoubtedly opens a philosophical horizon, particularly on some kind of ontology. Thus it is not surprising to find that a great many studies question the metaphorical process again from that perspective given the paradoxical nature of its reference and thus of its ontology which could be summed up through the usual exordium of the Majorcan storytellers: “Aixo era y no era” (it was and was not). Paul Ricœur insists on the paradoxical nature of the metaphorical reference since “the metaphor is a way of working on the language which consists in giving the logical subjects predicates that are incompatible with the first ones” (From Text to Action). In his book The Living Metaphor, the French philosopher analyses the concept of the “ontological metaphor” from the idea of the “divided reference”. Ricœur moves away from a purely stylistic or linguistic approach, centred on the word (a deviant denomination) to describe the metaphorical process on the level of the phrase and of the discourse (a non-pertinent predication): “Then there is a metaphor, since we can discern <…> the resistance of words <…> their incompatibility on the level of a literal interpretation of a sentence” (From Text to Action). But that non-pertinence and the abolition of the reference in the everyday reality are not a purely gratuitous verbal game, for they liberate “another kind of reference to other dimensions of reality” (The Living Metaphor). It is that way of tension of the metaphor which we intend to present in our study for it expresses some kind of „ontological vehemence” as Ricœur puts it so well? Let us add that the metaphor seen as a new description of reality, can be conceived, so to speak, as a “model”, in the sense of a prototype which accounts of the way a literary text functions when it is a “opening on the world”, when it places itself “in the service of things that want to be expressed” and when it responds “to the need of a discourse that comes from all forms of experience” (Mimesis, Reference and new figuration in “Time and Narrative”).

Entrepreneurial Action as Metaphorical Process and its Metaphorics

The objective of this paper is to formulate new approach to entrepreneurship and its result that is challenged by appearance of novel spheres of entrepreneurial activity related to social innovations, social networks, solution for corporate management and people`s wellbeing, production of gadget for precarious wants. These items inspire the study of axiological bases of value created by entrepreneurs. This purpose suggests addressing and revisiting the notions of entrepreneurial action and value. Their complete conceptualization applying to nascent new economy is unlikely to be possible. With this in mind, we focused on searching for metaphors that can cast light on the specifics of newly-emerging phenomena related to entrepreneurial action and value created by it. Using the theory of metaphor, we find that entrepreneurial action is of metaphorical nature itself. In the article, the creation of value is described by means of the transferal of enterprising constituents of entrepreneur's identity onto produced things. We specify these constituents as referred to the different periods of entrepreneurial history. The identification of the constituents was based on the theory of pillars and carriers of institutions by W. R. Scott. The metaphors of appropriateness, utility and wellbeing were proposed for the different periods of the development of value. The metaphor of rhetoric was defined as a root metaphor for all moduses of entrepreneurial action considered as a process of convincing on the value of things produced. Special metaphors for entrepreneurial action for each period of value development were also proposed. The metaphor of performative rhetoric was considered as shedding light on dominant modus of entrepreneurial action and modus of value under conditions of knowledge society.

Metaphorical Terms as Part of English Legal Terminology

The present research features the role of metaphorical term formation in the Anglo-American legal term system on the basis of a multi-aspect analysis of a lexicographic source. A thorough examination showed that metaphorization is a full-featured but not productive mechanism of terminology production in the sphere of jurisprudence. Metaphorical terms that function in major, specialized, and complex branches of law represent less than 1% of all terminological units recorded in the ABBYY Press legal dictionary. The paper focuses on mono-lexemic and poly-lexemic legal terms formed by metaphorization. Two- and three-component metaphorical terms were found most frequent. This fact can be explained both by the binary essence of the metaphorical process itself and by a high degree of specification of the legal concept. The position of the metaphorical component was taken into account when the terminological combinations were systematized. The paper contains some examples of various types of metaphoric shift in term formation: reframing according to (1) functional analogy, (2) identity of the produced impression, (3) size correspondence, (4) similarity of origin, (5) the presence of related properties, and (6) the same extension in space. The author singled out anthropomorphic, socio-morphic, artifactual, and nature-morphic metaphorical models of legal term formation. The predominant distribution of anthropomorphic legal metaphors reached almost 50% of the whole selection of examples. The paper describes and illustrates conceptual source spheres of all four categories of terminological metaphors in the legal field. As for some vague cases, the author specified the significative zone of the metaphor according to its figurative-semantic focus. In addition, the study differentiated universal and nationally-marked legal metaphorical terms. Particular attention in this classification was given to metaphorical terms that bear precedent phenomena which are part of the cognitive base of the English-speaking socio-cultural community and serve as a key to understanding its legal norms.

Victor Hugo. : Geopoesis der europäischen Literatur

Der Aufsatz untersucht Victor Hugos geopoetische Modellierung der europäischen Literatur, ihre metaphorische Territorialisierung und Kanonisierung im Horizont deutsch-französischer kultureller Kommunikation. Die Lektüre von Hugos Texten vollzieht einen doppelten Perspektivwechsel der Interpretation von der Romantik zum Orientalismus, von der Ästhetik zur Ideologie des laïzistischen Republikanismus. In diesen Zusammenhängen wird Hugos Konzeptualisierung eines geeinten Europas in Bezug auf die von ihm propagierten Ein- und Ausschlusskriterien kritisch reflektiert.This paper aims to investigate Victor Hugo’s geopoetic approach of european literature. In the horizon of german-french cultural communication it focuses on the metaphorical process of territorialisation and canonisation of european literature. By the twofold interpretational turn from romanticism to orientalism, from aethetics to ideology, it examines Hugo’s textual strategies of in- and exclusion of cultures, literatures and authors from the european project.

Entrepreneurial Action as Metaphorical Process and its Metaphorics

The objective of this paper is to formulate new approach to entrepreneurship and its result that is challenged by appearance of novel spheres of entrepreneurial activity related to social innovations, social networks, solution for corporate management and people`s wellbeing, production of gadget for precarious wants. These items inspire the study of axiological bases of value created by entrepreneurs. This purpose suggests addressing and revisiting the notions of entrepreneurial action and value. Their complete conceptualization applying to nascent new economy is unlikely to be possible. With this in mind, we focused on searching for metaphors that can cast light on the specifics of newly-emerging phenomena related to entrepreneurial action and value created by it. Using the theory of metaphor, we find that entrepreneurial action is of metaphorical nature itself. In the article, the creation of value is described by means of the transferal of enterprising constituents of entrepreneur's identity onto produced things. We specify these constituents as referred to the different periods of entrepreneurial history. The identification of the constituents was based on the theory of pillars and carriers of institutions by W. R. Scott. The metaphors of appropriateness, utility and wellbeing were proposed for the different periods of the development of value. The metaphor of rhetoric was defined as a root metaphor for all moduses of entrepreneurial action considered as a process of convincing on the value of things produced. Special metaphors for entrepreneurial action for each period of value development were also proposed. The metaphor of performative rhetoric was considered as shedding light on dominant modus of entrepreneurial action and modus of value under conditions of knowledge society.

O funcionamento da metáfora no discurso jornalístico de revista: temas sindicais em Veja e Revista do Brasil

A tese discute o funcionamento da metáfora no jornalismo. Amparada na Análise de Discurso, estabelece uma ponte analítica entre a metáfora como figura de linguagem e o conceito de metáfora como processo metafórico. A pesquisa é empreendida a partir de dois lugares de fala: revista Veja e Revista do Brasil. Conclui que este artifício discursivo estimula o perfil autoritário do discurso jornalístico.Palavras-chave:Jornalismo.Metáfora. Revista Veja. Revista do Brasil. Sindicalismo. The metaphor in magazine journalistic speech: union issues in Veja and Revista do BrasilAbstract: The thesis discusses the functioning of metaphor in journalism. Bolstered in the Discourse Analysis, it provides an analytical bridge between metaphor as a figure of speech and the concept of metaphor as metaphorical process. Research is undertaken from two speech sites: Veja magazine and Revista do Brasil. One concludes that this discursive device stimulates the authoritarian profile of journalistic discourse.Keywords: Journalism. Metaphor. Veja magazine. Magazine Brazil. Syndicalism. La operación de la metáfora en el discurso periodistico de revista: temas de lá unión em Veja y Revista do Brasil Resumen: La tesis analiza el funcionamiento de la metáfora en el periodismo. Apoyado en el análisis del discurso, proporciona un puente analítica entre la metáfora como una forma de expresión y el concepto de la metáfora como proceso metafórico. La investigación se lleva a cabo entre dos lugares de expresión: la revista Veja y Revista do Brasil. Se llega a la conclusión de que este dispositivo discursivo estimula el perfil autoritario del discurso periodístico.Palabras clave: Periodismo. Metáfora. Revista Veja. Revista do Brasil. El sindicalismo.