Abstract

James Ross tells us that his is the most sustained and systematic account of analogy in 500 years; he places his work beside the classical theories of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Cajetan. The boast may not be far off the mark, for this is a most significant treatise. What we have here is an explanation of a deeply pervasive feature of language. Its subject matter is the obvious occurrence in speech of the same word with different meanings. In its systematic explanation the book classifies the variety of same word/different meaning relationships, identifies the basic principles and underlying structures of the phenomena, and shows the necessities at work in the generation of meaning through this analogy feature of language. The thesis boldly stated reads: "analogy of meaning... is the consequence of underlying synchronic structure composed of linguistic inertia... and linguistic force". Ross calls his work a portrayal rather than a science, and properly so, for the key predicates in his account are metaphorically extended from other realms of discourse. Words such as linguistic inertia, force, dominate, entrenchment, craftbound, and benchmark are given extended life in this special discourse on analogy.