Full Idea
Conceptual metaphor allows us to conceptualise one domain of experience in terms of another, preserving in the target domain the inferential structure of the source domain.
Gist of Idea
Conceptual metaphors connect the inferential structures of two domains
Source
G Lakoff / M Johnson (Philosophy in the Flesh [1999], 06)
A Reaction
They say metaphors just establish connections, rather than picking our similarities. If so, then retaining the same inferential structure may be bad. Why should that be shared between entities, just because our minds connect them?
Book Reference
Lakoff,G/Johnson,M: 'Philosophy in the Flesh' [Basic Books 1999], p.91
Related Idea
Idea 24463 Metaphors restructure our experience, and thus create new similarities [Lakoff/Johnson]