Metaphor, fiction and thought

John Barnden*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

I will set out various un/underdeveloped opportunities for AI, philosophy and metaphor research to interact, with prospects for distinctly new lines of research and approaches to old problems. The opportunities I address in this paper are on the following topics: fiction-based accounts of metaphor, and a potentially resulting radical holism as regards the way metaphorical meaning arises from discourse; an anti-analogy-extension thesis, supporting unlimited non-parallelism between source and target in metaphor; the idea that thought can be metaphorical, and perhaps even more deeply than already mooted; deploying metaphor to solve a difficult problem in propositional attitude theory, which inludes the "meaning intention" problem as a special case; the "cognitive addition" of metaphor in language understanding, possibly leading to radical changes in how one thinks of the semantics even of non-metaphorical sentences.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication8th AISB Symposium on Computing and Philosophy
Subtitle of host publicationThe Significance of Metaphor and Other Figurative Modes of Expression and Thought
PublisherSociety for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB)
Number of pages8
Publication statusPublished - 2015
EventAISB Convention 2015 - Canterbury, United Kingdom
Duration: 20 Apr 201522 Apr 2015

Conference

ConferenceAISB Convention 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityCanterbury
Period20/04/1522/04/15

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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