Metaphor and Metaphilosophy: Philosophy as Combat, Play, and Aesthetic Experience(Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion)

Sarah A. Mattice explores contemporary philosophical activity and the way in which one aspect of language—metaphor—gives shape and boundary to the landscape of the discipline. The book examines metaphors of combat, play, and aesthetic experience and emphasizes how the choices we make in philosophical language are deeply intertwined with what we think philosophy is and how it should be practiced. Drawing on a broad range of resources, from cognitive linguistics and hermeneutics to aesthetics and Chinese philosophy, Mattice's argument provides insight into the evolution and future of philosophy itself.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter One: Metaphor and Metaphilosophy Chapter Two: Philosophical Activity as Combat Chapter Three: Philosophical Activity as Play Chapter Four: Philosophical Activity as Aesthetic Experience Epilogue

About the Author :
Sarah A. Mattice is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of North Florida.

Review :
Metaphor and Metaphilosophy makes a timely contribution to the field of comparative philosophy and provides a thoughtful critique of the current culture of philosophy. Mattice adeptly guides us in a constructive reflection on the subject of metaphilosophy. I recommend the book highly to all who are interested in engaging philosophical activity in a more open, respectful, and inclusive manner. Readers of Mattice's book will learn much and will be left with much to think about. Sarah Mattice is able to draw on a remarkably wide range of material, including a particularly strong grounding in western and Chinese philosophy, to enrich her critical examination of the key metaphors in philosophy. She makes a convincing argument for how our conception of thinking and how we engage in philosophical discourse have profound consequences for the nature of social relationships in a multifocal world. This is an extraordinary book, and all philosophers and students of philosophy would benefit by reading it. Metaphor and Metaphilosophy is a novel articulation of different models of philosophical activity. Mattice adeptly and fruitfully engages these models to plumb Chinese and western sources. The result is an enriched understanding of the aims and methods of philosophy and its place in contemporary life. Bravo! If every philosopher attended to the contents of this book in cross-cultural context, the discipline would almost certainly regain the stature it once had and deserves. This book presents a hopeful new vision of philosophy and philosophical practice, informed throughout by a new sense of the power of metaphor. It is at once scholarly and eminently accessible, effectively modelling the new practice it persuasively presents.