From Ricoeur's theory of metaphoric reference towards a phenomenological ontology of metaphor

Abstract

The thesis aims to outline a phenomenogical ontology of metaphor, taking as its starting point Ricoeur’s theory of metaphor in La Métaphore Vive. It defends Ricoeur’s contention that the metaphorical statement has reference rather than simply meaning, but puts forward some significant modifications to Ricoeur’s account. I then put forward my own theory of metaphoric reference through a strategic use of Husserlian phenomenology carried out in two stages: firstly, a phenomenological account of the process of metaphorisation in terms of intentionality/noesis, involving an analysis of the intentional/noetic act of perceiving x qua y, and secondly, the advancement of a phenomenological ontology of the metaphoric referent, as Husserlian intentional act/noema. This referent I call the interrealm: the ‘imaginary world’, created by the area of intersection of the worlds evoked by the two terms, or, in Husserlian terminology, the foundational moments, of the metaphorical statement, which I call the metaphoriser and the metaphorised. I then give a phenomenological description of the interrealm, which I see as potentially containing multiple layers of reference within itself, as possessing shifting boundaries, as having a chiasmatic structure based on a relationship of reversibility between the metaphoriser and the metaphorised, and as having an infinite nature. These characteristics are illustrated with examples of poetic metaphor, chosen because of their ability to bring to light the characteristics of the interrealm, and presented as a fortiori examples of the metaphoric process: as hypermetaphor. Finally, the thesis takes up the question of the general ontology implied by this theory of metaphor, and returning to Ricoeur, suggests how his account of subjectivity could be enriched by seeing the self in terms of metaphoricity.