Re: Metaphor and Mental Models
WILLIAM FULKERSON (WF28155@deere.com)
01 Jan 1995 21:58:21 GMT
Charles Barclay writes ....
<That written, I am a great fan of parable (usually Korean, Chinese,
<and Japanese) as a means of teaching the young values. Values are
<different than principles in that they need not be based in
<identifiable facts. I assert that teaching those that have a rational
<thought process through parable in place of learned rational thought
<is damaging to understanding & truth. Without formal analysis to
<support evidence to support this remains an assertion--not fact.
Charles has made an excellent point. I seem to recall a quote from some
NLP work that says "The power of the metaphore is in its ambiguity".
The use of metaphore can not be desputed in therapy and teaching values
where they relate to internalized abstractions. The strength
of metaphore in these applications does not pertain for rational
thought.
When we say "Its like x ..." rather than "It is x ..." we are only
beginning to understand.
Bill Fulkerson
wf28155@deere.com