Research Meeting: Gerard Steen
Resistance to metaphor: How far have we got?
Gerard Steen
In this talk I will reflect on our on-going NWO research program Resistance to Metaphor. First I will describe the aims and structure of the program and fill in some of the details of the progress that has been made over the past year and a half in the various PhD and post doc projects: resistance to metaphor in government and politics, in science, and in public discourse and the media; and modeling and testing resistance to metaphor. Then I will discuss some of the new insights, challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves over time: new insights having to do with the relations between metaphor and argumentation, challenges having to do with the integration of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches, and opportunities concerning extensions into metaphor and aphasia and dementia. Finally I will look at the plans for the future, in particular in connection with out-reach activities to a non-academic audience as well as PR for attracting new BA students to the study of metaphor in language and discourse. The talk is meant as a moment of tentative integration, reorientation and open discussion of one of the central programs in the Metaphor Lab Amsterdam.