Metaphor, Idiom, and Pretense

• Published in: Noûs (Bloomington, Indiana) Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 499 - 524
• Main Author: Wearing, Catherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.09.2012; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Allusion; Analogies; Epistemology. Philosophy of science. Theory of knowledge; Fictionalism; Figurative language; Guns; Idioms; Language comprehension; Metaphor; Metaphors; Ontology; Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Pretend play; Rhetorical Figures; Vehicles; Knowledge theory

Imaginative and creative capacities seem to be at the heart of both games of make-believe and figurative uses of language. But how exactly might cases of metaphor or idiom involve make-believe? In this paper, I argue against the pretense-based accounts of Walton (1990,1993), Hills (1997), and Egan (...