I could not agree more. But if this sentiment implies that metaphors are merely poor substitutes for adequate models, then I could not disagree more. Metaphors are extremely powerful in their own right and should not be treated simply as tokens along a tollway towards models. Metaphor is much more significant, as philosophers and linguists are beginning to demonstrate more and more convincingly. A metaphor is usually a statement that is paradoxical.
Metaphor constitutes a ubiquitous, irreducibly complex aspect of any natural language.
It is a crucial way that we understand one thing as another. It is furthermore possible to extend this understanding to visual and other metaphors such as the Mandelbrot set that enlivens our program covers at this conference. The importance of metaphor has long been understood. He contended that it is so indicative of power that it is not appropriate for slaves to use it. Beyerchen, a Clausewitz scholar, goes on to say that the great thinker was contemptuous of metaphors.