Beyond the Dichotomy of Literal and Metaphorical Language in the Context of Contemporary Physics
Working in the framework of object-oriented ontology, Graham Harman claims that science strictly adheres to literal language as opposed to metaphorical language. In this article, I argue that such a distinction between literal and metaphorical language cannot be made cleanly in the context of contem...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Open Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2024-0050 |
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| Summary: | Working in the framework of object-oriented ontology, Graham Harman claims that science strictly adheres to literal language as opposed to metaphorical language. In this article, I argue that such a distinction between literal and metaphorical language cannot be made cleanly in the context of contemporary physics. First, I identify aspects of scientific practice that point to non-literalism, which include non-linguistic elements of scientific discourse, the problem of interpretation of mathematical formulations of some theories, and the acceptance of incompatible theories that describe the same object. Second, I outline an argument that at least some theories in physics constitute complex metaphors based on Harman’s own definition. |
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| ISSN: | 2543-8875 |