METAPHOR’S PARTAKE IN MEDICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

In the present article, we examine the concept of metaphor from a diachronic point of view, beginning with Aristotle’s four types of metaphors and ending with the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. As part of an extended research on medical metaphors, the paper explores Ricœur’s and Derrida’s ideas on metaphor. We espouse the idea that metaphor is all–permeating, and side with Lakoff and Johnson in seeing it is an integral characteristic of human thought. In addition, we accept the two roles of metaphor in science as defined by Ortega y Gasset. Before exploring the nature of medical metaphor, we offer a working definition of discourse and medical discourse in particular. We suggest a new way of looking at medical metaphors, inspired by Ricœur’s understanding of metaphor as a discourse phenomenon. We conclude that viewing metaphor as not being noun–bond in the Aristotelean tradition, but rather – as pertaining to the level of discourse does not negate the stipulations of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory; rather, it augments and further particularizes them in relation to the study of metaphor in medical discourse.