The Metaphoric Transformation, an Essay on the Physiology of the Imagination

It is asked, what actually takes place in our transaction in the world? The task of approaching the interpretation & use of sci'fic evidence is both simplified & made more intelligible once we realize how metaphoric sci'fic reasoning actually is. It is emphasized that there is no point in the process of our transaction with the world where its several elements can be meaningfully analyzed out & treated as a separate line. It is a total process from beginning to end. Each phase has its characteristic structure as a given, but the whole process is a transaction in which energies modify the relation of the structures. Although we are not able to say how the process works, it is reasonably safe to say that we are dealing with the rhythmic transaction of energy, acting in patterns rather than reflexes. Understanding requires us to accept the fact that process is as real as objects, that relations are as "substantial as substance," that rhythm is as closely experienced as the ordering of muscles. Physiology must be understood as being far more inclusive in its reference than the word actually suggests & the limited processes of the traditional reference will be rightly understood only when they are related to the more inclusive definition. The workings of our bodily structures are not self-contained but extend far out into environing space in rhythmic transaction with the world. The metaphoric transformation is at the heart of culture & is one of the formative acts of human self-hood. History, nature, & culture are in constant interaction & exchange, & the transaction is through the great metaphors. All our cultural creations are centers for the control & transmission of energy; all culture is metaphor, a means for the human transaction. In conclusion, the process of metaphor & the pathology of metaphor are discussed. E. Weiman.