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Biology as Society, Society as Biology: Metaphors

  • Book
  • © 1995

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sabine Maasen

    1. University of Bielefeld, Germany

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Everett Mendelsohn

    1. Harvard University, USA

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  3. Peter Weingart

    1. University of Bielefeld, Germany

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Part of the book series: Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook (SOSC, volume 18)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vi
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  2. Metaphors: Is there a Bridge over Troubled Waters?

    1. Metaphors: Is there a Bridge over Troubled Waters?

      • Sabine Maasen, Everett Mendelsohn, Peter Weingart
      Pages 1-8

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 357-358
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Keywords

About this book

not lie in the conceptual distinctions but in the perceived functions of metaphors and whether in the concrete case they are judged positive or negative. The ongoing debates reflect these concerns quite clearly~ namely that metaphors are judged on the basis of supposed dangers they pose and opportunities they offer. These are the criteria of evaluation that are obviously dependent on the context in which the transfer of meaning occurs. Our fundamental concern is indeed the transfer itself~ its prospects and its limits. Looking at possible functions of metaphors is one approach to under­ standing and elucidating sentiments about them. The papers in this volume illustrate, by quite different examples, three basic functions of metaphors: illustrative, heuristic~ and constitutive. These functions rep­ resent different degrees of transfer of meaning. Metaphors are illustrative when they are used primarily as a literary device, to increase the power of conviction of an argument, for example. Although the difference between the illustrative and the heuristic function of metaphors is not great, it does exist: metaphors are used for heuristic purposes whenever "differences" of meaning are employed to open new perspectives and to gain new insights. In the case of "constitutive" metaphors they function to actually replace previous meanings by new ones. Sabine Maasen in her paper introduces the distinction between transfer and transforma­ tion.

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Bielefeld, Germany

    Sabine Maasen, Peter Weingart

  • Harvard University, USA

    Everett Mendelsohn

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Biology as Society, Society as Biology: Metaphors

  • Editors: Sabine Maasen, Everett Mendelsohn, Peter Weingart

  • Series Title: Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0673-3

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1995

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-3174-2Published: 31 March 1995

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-0251-9Published: 30 November 2001

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-011-0673-3Published: 01 December 2013

  • Series ISSN: 0167-2320

  • Series E-ISSN: 2215-1796

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VI, 356

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, History, general

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