Metaphor: Perceiving an Internal Relation

Abstract

The problem of metaphor has come to a noteworthy revival in the analytical
philosophy of today. Despite all progress that has been made, the majority of
important studies consider the function of metaphor as an analogue to visual
perception. Such comparison may be conceived as metaphor as well. In his late
philosophy, Wittgenstein spent a lot of effort to explain the use of the
expression “seeing as”. I argue that his explanations can be transposed to the
explanation of the function of metaphor. Firstly, it is shown that all earlier
attempts to do that are not satisfying. The occurrence of the expression “to see
as” in everyday language led Wittgenstein to the elaboration of the notion of
“aspect”. Primarily these ideas should be employed in order to explain metaphors
in everyday or even poetic language. My conclusion is that an internal relation
can be perceived and thought of in the metaphor.