Michael Link | Freie Universität Berlin (original) (raw)

Confronting eighteenth century philosophy of language with the theory of cognitive metaphor, the ... more Confronting eighteenth century philosophy of language with the theory of cognitive metaphor, the paper demonstrates how metaphors structure philosophical conceptualizations. The paper will show that several aspects of language are understood in terms of other domains of knowledge. Analyzing price essays of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and Literature concerning the discussion about the reciprocal influence of thought on language, it will be illustrated which branches of cultural knowledge (e.g. economics, political science, agriculture) are used as source domains to talk about language. Furthermore, the use of a text series composed in three different languages (German, French, and Latin) permits to highlight cultural and linguistic traditions in talking about language. The variety of metaphors available helps to understand how complementary and competing conceptualizations work.