Final Presentation
Summary
of George Lakoff’s, Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in
the Gulf (2 parts), published November 1991
Lakoff metaphors reviewed and summarized in his
words:
1.
War
is politics pursued by other means, (Clausewitz’s metaphor)
a. Politics is Business
b. Cost benefit analysis
defines objectives, tallies costs, determines worth
i. This metaphor rules out some
possible costs, including ecological costs, make a zero-sum system where costs
to the other side are gains
ii. Devalues human life, if that
life is on the other side, even if that life is innocent
2.
State-as-person
system
a. State as person, engaging in
social relations with neighbors, either friends or enemies
i. States can be peaceful of aggressive,
responsible or irresponsible, industrious or lazy
ii. Well being is wealth,
everything is in economic terms
iii. Strength is military
strength
iv. Maturity is
industrialization
1. third world nations are
immature children
2. rationality is the
maximization of self-interest
v. violence can further self
interest
1. can be stopped by balance of
power, collective persuasion or the strong cop
b. morality is a matter of
accounting
i. keep moral books balanced to
keep justice
c. Ruler can stand for the
state as well as the state-as-person
i. Only applies to leaders
perceived as illegitimate rulers
d. HIDDEN by this metaphor:
i. Class structure, ethnic
composition, religious rivalry, political parities, ecology, influence of
military and corporation.
ii. If national interest is the
goal, then other interests are lost in this metaphor
3.
Fairy
tale of the Just War
a. Cast: villain, victim, hero
b. Scenario: crime committed by villain against innocent
victim, due to imbalance of power, and hero, either together or alone, engages
villain in battle, victory is achieved and moral balance restored.
i. Self defense scenario
ii. Rescue scenario
iii. In order to be a hero, one
must be acting selflessly, so there is a contradiction between the
self-interested hero and the self-defense scenario
Expert’s Metaphors as laid
out by Lakoff:
4.
Rational
Actor Metaphor
5.
Causal
Commerce System
a. Causal Transfer
i. ex. sanctions give Iraq
economic difficulties
ii. purposeful actions turn into
transfers of objects
b. Exchange metaphor for value
i. value is what you are wiling
to exchange for it
ii. ex: question of worth over
going to war with Iraq uses exchange metaphor for value plus the causal
transfer metaphor
c. Well-being is wealth
i. increases in well-being are
gains, decreases are costs
ii. qualitative actions become
quantitative
6.
Risk
Metaphors
a. Risks are Gambles
b. Mathematicization of
Metaphor
i. Risks as Gambles and Causal
Commerce, probability theory, decision theory and game theory are basis
c. Rational Action
i. Rational person is someone
who acts in his own self-interest, maximizing his own well being
d. Rationality is Profit
Maximization
i. Presupposes Causal Commerce
plus Risks-as-Gambles
7.
International
Politics Is Business
a. The state is the Rational
Actor, whose actions are transactions, engaged in maximizing gains and
minimizing costs
i. Cost benefit analysis, game
theory and Clausewitz’s metaphor are basis
8.
Clausewitz’s
metaphor
a. War as violent crime
i. Murder, assault, kidnapping,
arson, rape and theft
1. understood as moral
dimension
2. us/them asymmetry
b. War as a competitive game
i. Clear winners and losers
c. War as medicine
i. Military control by the
enemy is seen as cancer
ii. Military operations are seen
as hygienic, used to clean out enemy fortification, bombing raids are surgical
strikes
What
is Victory?
1. In a fairy tale or game, victory is well-defined, and once
achieved the story or game is over
Summary
of George Lakoff’s, Metaphors of Terror, published
September 16, 2001
Lakoff Metaphors:
1. Buildings
as metaphors
a. Features:
eyes, nose, mouth
b. Planes
flying into WTC were like bullets through a head
c. WTC
buildings falling were like erect people falling
2. Control
is up, on top; loss of control is down, falling
3. Phallic
Imagery: collapse means loss of power
4. Pentagon
is symbol of vaginal image, penetrated by the plane, violation
5. Society
is a building: foundation is solid, but can crumble
6. Length
of time something stands: “stands the test of time”, “this will not stand”
7. Building
as Temple: WTC was the destruction of the temple of capitalist commerce at the
heart of society
8. Remains
of WTC with continuing smoke was hell
9. Crime: victims, perpetrators
10.Moral
is Up, immoral is down
a. Immoral
people are animals
11.Strict
Father Morality
a. Evil: Palpable thing, force in the world
b. To
stand up to it, you must be strong
c. Evil
people do evil things
d. There
are no social causes of evil
e. No
religious rational of evil
f. No
reasons or arguments for evil
g. Enemy
of evil is good
h. Nothing
is more important than the battle of good against evil
i. Security
as containment
i. Keep
the evil doers out
12.Nurturant
morality
a. Ethical
behavior centers on empathy and responsibility
i. Fairness
ii. Minimal
violence
iii. Ethic
of care
iv. Protection
of those needing it
v. Recognition
of interdependence
vi. Cooperation
for the common good
vii. Building
of community
viii.
Mutual respect
b. Implies
multilateralism, interdependence and international cooperation
i. Without
nurturant norms can be applied to strict father morality