The Flexibility of the Metaphor
There is a fluidity and flexibility to the concept of the metaphor than allows it to paradoxically be misunderstood. The simile’s direct comparison is all too often the standard by which metaphor is judged. But many metaphors are expressed in everyday discourse that are not quite so concrete and so may be misjudged. Here is a concise example this easily misapprehended flexibility that can confuse the literal with the symbolic:
“The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions.”
Scientific Theory
Popper provides a pretty sturdy definition of what is meant by scientific theory capable of standing up to argument. It is a metaphorical description, to be sure, but one that that difficult to refute:
“Every ‘good’ scientific theory is a prohibition: it forbids certain things to happen. The more a theory forbids, the better it is.”
Language Manipulation
Much of the text centers upon semantic gymnastics of which metaphor is an example as Popper explores the nature of language and meaning. He distills things down into a Biblical perspective at one point, creating a metaphor within a metaphor:
“If we fall into temptation and use language in vain, then it is we who are to blame for the trouble that ensues. For language is a jealous God and will not hold him guiltless that taketh His words in vain, but will throw him into darkness and confusion.”
Man and Knowledge
The text is consumed with exploration of theories and themes related to knowledge and ignorance. Questions demand answers and some of the answers include hypothetical formulations about the metaphorical plane on which knowing things and not knowing things exist. One conclusion optimistically leads to a conclusion that man in his natural state is a being of knowledge rather than ignorance. It is a premise which may not be strong enough to hold up to penetrating insight, however:
“We can now see more clearly how, in this optimistic epistemology, the state of knowledge is the natural or the pure state of man, the state of the innocent eye which can see the truth, while the state of ignorance has its source in the injury suffered by the innocent eye in man’s fall from grace; an injury which can be partially healed by a course of purification.”
The Necessity of the State
By the time Popper gets around the subject of governance and tyranny, metaphor has been revealed as one of his primary powers of conveyance of his ideas. He handles them with such felicity that they no longer draw attention to themselves at all, but have become organic tools of expression which seamlessly connect abstract ideas:
“The state is a necessary evil: its powers are not to be multiplied beyond what is necessary.”
