Abstract

Building on a well-developed philosophy of language, Shibles proposes a theory of metaphor. Whereas one philosophy of language may regard metaphor as an inadequate or fallacious form of reasoning, another may consider it to be the very foundation of language. Shibles’ views lie in the latter direction, and he employs Wilbur Urban’s philosophy of language, presented in his Language and Reality, to develop his theory. Urban’s importance lies in his avoidance of reducing the philosophy of language to symbolic logic and recognition of the importance of metaphor, symbol, and analogy. Also significant for a theory of metaphor is the fact that Urban saw a "high evaluation" of language as being more adequate than a "low evaluation" of language.