Re: Metaphor and Mental Models

Tim Dalmau (tim@ozemail.com.au)
Tue, 3 Jan 1995 10:30:40 +1100

My original training was as a mathematician and physicist and, for a while,
I too subscribed to positivist or rationalist fantasies which would seek to
call truth or reality that which can be discerned by reason. I now take a
wider view and happen to think that all human communication is essentially
metaphoric in nature, including that which some would call objective reality.

In this light, I then happen to believe that using metaphors is not
something we do at times and not at others: we are continuously engaged in
using language as a metaphoric map for our experience whenever we
communicate with another.

Some maps are little better chosen and little more instructive in nature,
but in essence are no different from that which we do continuously.

Tim

Tim Dalmau Tel:61-1-874-8128 Fax:61-7-289-2131
Email:tim@well.sf.ca.us or tim@ozemail.com.au
PO Box 283 Samford Village Qld. 4520 Australia