Of Chaperones and Dancing Molecules: The Power of Metaphors

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Of Chaperones and Dancing Molecules The Power of
Metaphors

• Author Maura Flannery
• Andrew Clark
• September 20, 2001

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Metaphor

• Figure of speech that adds richness to language
  and thought by likening two dissimilar things

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Literary Metaphor

• Max Black
• Argues rather than formulating a similarity that
  already exists between two subjects, a metaphor
  actually creates the similarity
• Develops an interactive view of metaphor

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Chaperone, Metaphorically Speaking

• Brings to mind a system of commonplace meanings
  associated with it
• Chaperones encourage proper interactions and curb
  or break up improper ones

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The Living Metaphor

• A metaphor becomes so familiar it is hardly
  thought of as a metaphor.
• Idea of the heart as a pump
• Concept of the brain as a computer

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Misconceptions

• The fact that metaphors have such a powerful
  influence on thinking means that they can also be
  misleading
• As Jon Miller once said A metaphor can be so
  pervasive that once it lodges in the imagination,
  it can successfully eliminate or discredit any
  evidence which might be regarded as
  contradictory.

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Evolution Of A Metaphor

• J.F. Stein (1986) describes the successive
  metaphors that have guided research on the
  functioning of the cerebellum.
• In the 19th century, it was thought to be similar
  to a specific type of battery
• In the 20th century, it was thought to be
  similar to a telephone exchange
• In the 1950s, it was thought to be similar to a
  collection of transistor delay lines
• Today, it is thought of as a computer

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Final Thoughts

• Established metaphors are similar to the process
  of developing new metaphors in science. In both
  cases, there is a moment of vision when the mind
  performs the act of fusion. Jacob Bronowski
• Humans have an undue craving for metaphors
  because of the degree of emotional satisfaction
  which its use affords. Agnes Arber(1954)
• Metaphors show that the sciences are more closely
  linked to the world of arts and letters than we
  thought. Maura Flannery