An Interaction Theory of Metaphor

Abstract

In my framework of cognition, the paradox of interactionism is resolved by pointing out that while it is the cognitive agent who gives an ontology to the external world by instantiating concept networks, the structure of the world, as seen from this ontology, is determined by reality. Thus, it is only by instantiating different concept networks that the cognitive agent can ‘see’ different structures in reality. In other words, any reorganization and restructuring of the world view is essentially the process of reinstantiating the concept networks—a process I have been calling projection.