Conceptual Metaphor

Theory and Political

Discourse
BY H E N R I Q U E D O R ES
Historical Background:

• Started with George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s book,

Metaphors We Live By (1980)

• More recent overviews can be found in Way (1991), Steen

(1994), and Kövecses (2002)
Main Ideas of CMT

• Metaphors are pervasive in most, neutral, non-deliberately used

forms of language

• Standard definition: A conceptual metaphor is understanding one

domain of experience in terms of another 
Main Ideas of CMT

• Two domains of experience:

-Source domain: from which we draw metaphorical expressions

-Target domain: the conceptual domain that we try to understand

Main Ideas of CMT

From concrete domain to abstract domain:

• LIFE IS A JOURNEY
• MORE IS UP
• MIND IS A MACHINE
Main Ideas of CMT

LAKOFF AND JOHNSON’S MAIN TYPES OF

METAPHORS:

- STRUCTURAL METAPHORS

- ORIENTATIONAL METAPHORS

- ONTOLOGICAL METAPHORS
Main Ideas of CMT

• Structural metaphors: one concept is metaphorically structured

in terms of another

ARGUMENT IS WAR 
Main Ideas of CMT

• Orientational metaphors: they organize a whole system of

concepts with respect to one another; involves spatial
relationships (such as UP-DOWN, IN-OUT, ON-OFF, and
FRONT-BACK).

HAPPY IS UP 
Main Ideas of CMT

• Ontological metaphors: something concrete is projected onto

something abstract; provides ways of viewing events, activities,
emotions, ideas, etc., as entities and substances

INFLATION IS AN ENTITY
Main Ideas of CMT

Metaphors are grounded on:

• Objectively real similarity, perceived similarity, and similarity in

generic-level structure
• Experience (primary metaphors)
Main Ideas of CMT

Metaphors are based on image schemas:

• abstract, preconceptual structures that emerge from our

recurrent experiences of the world
• include container, source-path-goal, force, verticality
Main Ideas of CMT

Metaphors rely on:

• Experiential gestalts: multi-dimensional structures that intend to

organize experiences into a structured whole
Main Ideas of CMT

Interactional properties:

• Defining concepts (JOURNEYS, MADNESS, WAR, HEALTH)

emerge from our interactions

• The concept they metaphorically define (e.g., LOVE) will be

understood in terms of interactional properties
Main Ideas of CMT

• Metaphor resides not only in language but also in thought

• Since our conceptual system governs how we act in the world,

we often act metaphorically. 
Entailments of CMT

Refusal of Enlightenment view of reason: 

• Denies that reason is conscious, literal, logical, universal,

unemotional, disembodied, and serves self-interest
Entailments of CMT

Objectivism:

• There is absolute and unconditional truth

Entailments of CMT

Limitations of Objectivism:

• Formal models do not account for the experiential basis and for
the way in which metaphorical concepts permit us to
comprehend our experience.
Entailments of CMT

Subjectivism:

• Truth as obtainable only through the imagination

•  Unconstrained by external circumstances
Entailments of CMT

Limitations of Subjectivism:

• reinforced the dichotomy between truth and reason, art and

imagination
• by giving up on rationality it played into the myth of objectivism
Experientialist view:

• Allows us to bridge the gap between the objectivist and subjectivist

myths about impartiality and the possibility of being fair and objective

• Truth is relative to our conceptual system, which is grounded in our

experiences and culture in our daily interactions with other people
and with our physical and cultural environments
Developments on CMT

• Research on CMT intensified

Click tothe
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text of metaphors in the brain

• Lakoff (2008) suggested a “neural theory of metaphor”

Neural Theory of Metaphor

• According to this theory, individual neurons in the brain form

neuronal groups, called “nodes”

• There are different types of neural circuits between the nodes

Neural Theory of Metaphor

• In the “mapping circuit” that characterizes metaphor, there are two

groups of nodes corresponding to source and target domain

• The circuitry between the two groups of nodes will correspond to the
mappings

• In primary metaphors, one group of nodes represents a sensorimotor

experience in the brain, while the other represents an abstract,
subjective experience
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• Why does the embodiment of mind matter for politics?

- Moral worldviews are within the cognitive unconscious

- Lakoff identifies two opposing worldviews: Conservative and
Progressive (mutually inhibitory)
- As we think in a metaphorical way, nations are understood as families
- Conservatives follow the Strict Father model, whereas Progressives
follow the Nurturent Parent model
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• How can this be used in political discourse?

- Political language and discourse activate these worldviews 

- Framing the debate
- Negating the frame is evoking the frame
- Elicit narratives
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• Some examples of how this can be done:

George W. Bush introduced in daily political language and discourse the

expression TAX RELIEF

TAX + RELIEF =>  TAXATION IS AN AFFLICTION 

Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• Synapses in the brain change most readily and dramatically under

conditions of trauma
• WAR ON TERROR
• TERROR activates a fear response, and fear activates a conservative
worldview
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• WAR ON TERROR became a fixed part of the brains of most

americans, used reflexively, not reflectively

• Part of the power of political language is that the ideas expressed are
processed reflexively

• Metaphors evoke narratives

Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• 1st Gulf War, George H. W. Bush

• ''No Blood for Oil'': neutralized the economic self-defense narrative

•  Bush fights back: ''The Rape of Kuwait'' activated rescue narrative
• Popular support was achieved
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

• Iraq War, George W. Bush

• First evoked self-defense narrative with claims of WMD

• Once no WMD were found, evoked rescue narrative
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

Conclusions:

• People think in terms of frames and metaphors

• Morality and politics are embodied ideas, not abstract ones
• These ideas mostly function in the cognitive unconscious
• Political language and discourse take advantage of this
Conceptual Metaphor in Political Discourse

Conclusions:
• Frames and deep narratives are fixed in the brain
• The synapses of the neural circuits characterizing them have been so
strengthened that these deep narratives are permanently parts of
our brains
• Neural binding allows these permanent general narrative structures
to be applied to new cases
• When the facts don't fit the frames, the frames are kept and the
facts ignored
Further Reading

• Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors We Live By.

• Lakoff, G. (2008). The Political Mind A Cognitive Scientist's Guide To
Your Brain And Its Politics.
• Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things.
• Lakoff, G. (2004). Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and
Frame the Debate.
 THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
HE NR IQUE CNND OR E S@ G MA IL. C O M