Metaphoricity in the History of Economic Thought (on the Basis of the 17th Century Economic Discourse)

Abstract

At all times economists resorted to metaphors to explicate abstract phenomena like money, market, labor and so on. The article is devoted to the analysis of metaphoricity in the works of philosophers and preclassical economists of the 17th century with the aim to trace the source of economic metaphors and look into the factors that have bearing on the proclivity of metaphorical mappings of the nascent intellectual discipline. Each epoch is characterized by a specific metaphorical paradigm which is a result of systematic correlations across domains and carries an impact of the general state of knowledge, relative significance of different areas of learning, national and cultural specificity. These paradigms supply basic guiding images to express new cognitive contents and shape the ways in which reality can be visualized and a new theory constructed. We proceed from the assumption that metaphoricity is the foundational feature of economic discourse and the basis for the conceptualization of economic reality and postulate that economic metaphors are dependent on and epistemologically correlated with the general metaphorical paradigm of the period in question. Adaptations and modifications of universal absolute metaphors (organicmechanical) are carried out in full conformity with the existing metaphorical paradigm. A historical perspective adopted in this article allows us to discover the cognitive basis of economic metaphors, their pattern setting capacity and implications for modern-day economics.

Metaphor Variation in Economic Discourse

“…The analysis of the developmental dimension of metaphor use in this research supported the previous findings. It seems that a salient feature of conceptual metaphor in science is its ability to catch and reflect prevailing scientific and philosophical views as well as a specific metaphorical paradigm used by the academic community to shape new theoretical concepts [Davidko, 2013]. Modern linguistics recognizes the heuristic role of mechanical and biological conceptual metaphors in construing economic theory at particular stages of its development.…”

“…[…] In fact, our fathers and grandfathers experienced, in some ways, even more revolutionary change -the one wrought by the industrial revolution". [Wealth without workers, workers without wealth, the Economist, Oct. 4,2014].…”