How the Mind Calculates Metaphor
Abstract
Metaphor is, in the perspective of the philosophy of mind, the mental process in which one thing or event, TARGET, is comprehended in view of another thing or event, SOURCE.This mental process is called metaphor in rhetoric when the inner process is externalized into the form of natural language.Metaphor is realized in mind through calculation and representation, which are in turn realized in five steps.In a metaphor TARGET is a perceptible physical entity, while SOURCE is so constructed during the process through the manner of the construal of TARGET by the perceptual system.This means that SOURCE is not an actual entity of physical reality, but an image emerging in mind.The rhetorical figure of speech of metaphor will further be realized when the emergent image is represented in the form of language.