Publications

Publication details [#175]

Onuf, Nicholas. 2010. Polemics: Fitting Metaphors - The Case of the European Union. Perspectives: Central European Review of International Affairs 18 (1) : 63–76. 14 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English

Abstract

Metaphor studies often begin with Aristotle. Aristotle saw that we use metaphors to persuade others to accept or act on what we say—they are performative. By virtue of use, metaphors are concepts in the making; concepts are metaphors that we no longer recognize as such. Our representations of the world, however fitting in the moment, are never fully or finally fixed. Metaphors orient us in space and time, express awareness of our bodies, and reflect our relations with other embodied beings. In International Relations, scholars ignore these distinctions and find only a few metaphors worthy of attention. Petr Drulák's work on motion, container and equilibrium metaphors presents metaphors as sedimented in time and use.