Language of Science and Technology - Essay Example

The Use of Metaphor In Professional Or Popular Or Pedagogic Science Name Course Institution Date: The use of Metaphors has been found to play a crucial role in human understanding. Metaphors involve the use of a familiar concept in the in the understanding an unfamiliar. They involve reasoning by analogy that takes the characteristic by removing an explicitly a particle that is comparative. Metaphors, also involves putting communicative dimensions at a centrality (Derewianka, 2003). They can also be powerful in aiding the education due to the fact that they enable learners in the understanding the novel concepts. The identification and making reasoning of metaphors explicit can as much helps in the assistance of creative thinking in relevance to metaphors and also the subject matter. Metaphors help in spreading out the new scientific knowledge that is held by few who would find it extremely difficult without them to present to others the knowledge so as to use in scientific community (Derewianka, 2003). The use of metaphor in academic learning has been having much debate on its impact. More so their use in teaching young children in explanation of different concepts has been discussed. Metaphor and other simile have been used by teachers in primary curriculum in the explanation of difficult concepts (Cameron, 2003; Darian 2000). Metaphors use by teachers in the theoretical learning process has implications on the image of science as constructed by students Milner & Taylor (1995). For instance, the scientific knowledge and reality metaphors use implies to the students that they are purely in contact with reality of science through observations. However this implies that through one to one experiences with what metaphors reflect rules out the possibility of false presentation. This ignores the requirements of scientific validity. In that case, the search for reality can never be validated one to one correspondence belief between our perceptions and reality is not validated Burian (1984); Kuhn (1970). Another implication of scientific metaphor in teaching is the issue of the security of scientific knowledge. The metaphors use implies that scientific knowledge is never changing and remains secure which imply the knowledge can be represented as proven. This allows teachers who have the fundamental security of scientific knowledge in the presentation of their facts in a way that shows the facts have existed in that form. ‘‘Teachers who believe in the unchanging security of knowledge tend to believe that that security is based on the security of empirical foundations.’’ Milner & Taylor (1995). Metaphors also present a scientific growth, whenever a teacher accepts the belief it means that scientific knowledge can explained as an accumulation of different facts about science. It is important that the metaphor used in studying should be familiar to the children and also have some correlation for better learning development because this has been found to sometimes confuse children (Cameron, 2002). As an example, in pedagogic uses metaphors can be used in learning a theory, in the explanation of a theory, in remembering a theory and even in the description of methods used (Derewianka, 2003). For instance the chemical building blocks of DNA that forms the double helix strand are being described by the metaphor ‘‘book of life’’ providing an explanation of the complexity and what constitute the DNA (Derewianka, 2003). Most scientific philosophers have had regard for the pedagogical aspects to be more important for cognitive status of theories. Metaphors can make the unfamiliar look familiar. They do the recognition of the humanity nature of the mind and the aspects of human arguments. Metaphors can be used as invitations that see the world in a different way (Cohen, 2004). As Cohen (2004) suggested, metaphors tries to prove a point through consensus that is appealing rather than forceful. Therefore, the metaphors should be purely illustrative in their use so as to present a picture in its clear form that is appealing to the world. Mapping out the relational qualities of familiar entities into science ideas that are of importance has been one of the major uses of metaphors (Cameron, 2002; Gentner, & Jeziorski, 1993). Professional science also implies the use of metaphors in various ways. This is where you find that most scientists have formed the attitude of applying metaphor in their language of writing. Their attitude towards metaphors use could be in relation to the fact that metaphors are abound in science. Maxwell (1890), in his opinion supported the use of wide range of thought in expressing scientific knowledge through use of imagery, drawings and metaphors. He further became specific stating that metaphors apart from being legitimate products of science also have the capability of generating science themselves. Hoffman (1980), asserted that Phycists like James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson did acknowledge the use of their metaphors such as ‘‘lines of force’’ in reference to magnetism and ‘‘dance of molecules’’ and the use of heat is a ‘‘fluid’’. Darian (2000), in his counting of the number of appearances of metaphors that are used in scientific books found a strong relationship between the major themes of metaphor in a disciple and the figurative forms used to present them to be more frequent. This clearly shows how important the use of metaphoric language in science enhances the understanding of science in general. Metaphors have been applied in most scientific problem solving situations. Many solutions can be solved by use of metaphors successfully and this involves the context of scientific inventions where metaphors play an important role in the creativity process. Indurkhya (2010), suggested that metaphors can be used in different ways of creative thinking such as art, legal interpretation, mathematics and product development where set of objects or are applied in different situations that are not related to them. Indurkhya (2010) further argued that in every act of conceptualization there is an involvement of loss of information. This is for instance in the naming of some things like chair, specific details of the chair such as colour or shape are lost. ‘‘…all conceptualization involves some loss of information, and that some of this lost information may be recovered by projecting a gestalt or a different set of operations onto it. But this is essentially what a metaphor does’’ (Indurkhya, 2010). Most authors believe that metaphors and analogical thinking apply the same mental processes of thinking as it is a way in thinking is constructed that is the same as analogical thinking. Black (1979) argues that each single metaphor maybe said to mediate structural correspondence. Holyoak & Thagard (1997) stated that metaphors are like analogies in that they can be used as a comparison statement in trying to indicate a structural activity that exists between some sort of target and a source as well as analogies. Metaphors has been found to play several creative roles in science, this may be due to the fact that scientist are able to recognise metaphors (Hyland, 2010). Metaphors can be used in the experimental design in coming up with new predictions, new methods of demonstrations and even the creating of new experiments (Parkinson & Adendorff, 2005). In cases where theories seem not to be transferable to the form that is observable, metaphors can be used to suggest some relational concepts. When comparisons are being done between a metaphor and rival theory, the metaphor may be used to show how a simple description is not right (Derewianka, 2003). Some philosophers point out the use of metaphors to be seen as a linguistic curse. Black (1979) argues that the use of metaphor in science presents a complication that is yet to be brought into discussion explicitly. This points out the possibility the philosophers ruling out the use of metaphors in science. However for those who propose the use of metaphor majorly rely on the examples used by metaphors in theorizing. Scientific metaphors are important in theorizing and can be part of theory (Hyland, 2010). In scientific writing of Bohr’s atom theory by eliminating of all the wording and leaving only the mathematical part of it. It is possible to say that is left is theory. In this case it is only for the person who knows mathematics will be able to interpret the formula. By use of metaphor in the theory it enables Bohr in generating the mathematics in that they helped Bohr in theorizing (Parkinson & Adendorff, 2005). With theory which may require a number of concepts, theories are said not to be the truth, theories are functional. However, it is not that theories are wrong but in case the theories are truth, they could be doing the function of predication, but the metaphors qualify that Metaphors usually accounts for facts (Hyland, 2010). Most scientist today follow a general rule as in the past that if in any case one does not like a theory or theorist when a theory contains a metaphor, one may get away with criticizing the theory simply by stating that it is only a metaphor (Cohen, 2004). However, this may seem to say that a metaphor is negative and the progress of science being degenerative. It is possible to say that metaphors are constructive in that the theory may be shown to be false hence leading to a rejection of theory (Hyland, 2010). In that instance it may unfortunately serve the creative role of a metaphor when rejected. Hoffman (1980), states the falsifiable nature is however debatable. The scientific metaphors can be modified so as to secure them the fate as the theories change in light of evidence. Usually the scientific scholars treat metaphors by simply by holding them back and regard them as falsified while applying them in a creative manner until that time that they might be thrown out altogether. Several science philosophers have warned on this that metaphors should not show a lot of figurativeness in their use that leads to misleading (Derewianka, 2003). When analysing scientific metaphors on the basis of the notion of idealization, it does gives us some degree of validation on what the metaphors exhibit in the process of theories development and models application (Derewianka, 2003). For instance, in the use of metaphors in biology in two scenarios where in one case the use of metaphors in biology in terms of discussion is limited as compared to other areas; in another scenario biology can give a good illustration on how theory-constitutive metaphor does play an important role in the field of scientific research. According to Hoffman (1980), the construction and constitution of scientific models and theories are as a result of scientific metaphors, especially in the formulation of theories it important that they resort to metaphors to get the understanding and allow the borrowing of knowledge from other sources. However, Cohen (2004), states that theories of metaphors must also be metaphorical. Finally, metaphor being the central figure in scientific thinking it is possible that in some disciplines like therapeutic psychology, sociology, cultural studies and intelligence research or in most cases when a mature science is facing challenges, the creation of new metaphors for such becomes essential to thinking. For that matter it is possible to state that metaphors are most important part of theory since their meaning can be used in scientific research (Parkinson & Adendorff, 2005). Therefore it is possible to say that daily communication and the scientific world rests on the patterns of metaphors that are governing the conceptualization of the world. It is most important to understand the scientific metaphors that are applied as they are the eye opener to the world. As metaphors are said to be aiding education, it is required for them to be incorporated in most curriculum books so as to enable the understanding of concepts that are passed onto the students. Metaphors application in research has been found to allow the research to prosperity and hence give more clear insight and deeper understanding through the creative process of metaphoring (Parkinson & Adendorff, 2005). References Berggren, D. (1963). The Use and Abuse of Metaphor, II. The Review of Metaphysics, 16(3), 450-472. Black, M. (1979). How metaphors work: A reply to Donald Davidson. Critical Inquiry, 131-143. Cameron, L. (2002). Metaphors in the learning of science: A discourse focus. British Educational Research Journal, 28(5), 673-688. Cohen, D. H. (2004). Arguments and metaphors in philosophy. University Press of America. Darian, S. (2000). The role of figurative language in introductory science texts. International Journal of applied linguistics, 10(2), 163-186. Derewianka, B. (2003). Trends and Issues in Genre-Based Approaches. RELC Journal, 34 (2) 133 –154. Gentner, D., & Jeziorski, M. (1993). The shift from metaphor to analogy in Western science. Hoffman, R. R. (1980). Metaphor in science. Cognition and figurative language, 393-423. Holyoak, K. J., & Thagard, P. (1997). The analogical mind. American Psychologist, 52(1), 35. Hyland, K. (2010).Constructing proximity: Relating to readers in popular and professional science. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9, 116-127. Indurkhya, B. (2010). On the role of metaphor in creative cognition. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Creativity: ICCC-X, Lisbon, Portugal (pp. 51-59). Maxwell, J. C. (1890). Address to the Mathematical and Physical Sections of the British Association. In W.D. Niven (Ed.), The scientific papers of James Clerk Maxwell (Vol. II, pp. 215–229). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Parkinson, J. & and Adendorff, R. (2005). Variable discursive constructions of three  genres of science, Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. 23(3): 281-303. Radman, Z. (1997). Metaphors: Figures of the mind. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. UK Essays. November 2013. Contribution 0f Personal Selling Towards Promotional Mix Marketing Essay. [online]. Available from: http://www.uniassignment.com/essay-samples/marketing/contribution-of-personal-selling-towards-promotional-mix-marketing-essay.php?cref=1 [Accessed 04 June 2015]. Milne, C., & Taylor, P. C. (1995). Metaphors as global markers for teachers' beliefs about the nature of science. Research in Science Education, 25(1), 39-49. Read More