Metaphors in Use

Metaphors and analogies do a lot of heavy lifting in our philosophical
thinking.  Many of us take it for granted that you can’t get something from
nothing, time flows, good building projects require good foundations, music
has movement, rafts can’t be built out to sea, God is dead and hell other
people, minds are like computers, cognition has architecture, and so on. 
Cashing out these metaphors can have very interesting consequences for the
positions they undergird.  And interesting and important questions arise
regarding how we are supposed to understand the role of metaphor and analogy
in our philosophical thinking.

We are soliciting abstracts for paper that address issues relating to the
roles metaphors and analogies play in our philosophical thinking.  In
particular, we are interested in papers that address aspects of specific
arguments from metaphor and analogy, evaluating their success, consequences
and power.  We also seek submissions that address broader issues pertaining
to the nature of metaphor and analogy and their place, if any, in our
philosophical toolkits.

Suggested topics include but aren’t exhausted by:

- Given a particular argument from metaphor/analogy, what does this argument
commit us to? Is this a commitment its propounder ought to accept?
- What happens when we unpack arguments that involve metaphor/analogy?
- What is the role of metaphor in Philosopher X’s theory?
- Does treating the idea that music has movement as a metaphor affect how 
we theorize about musical expressiveness?
- Does treating the idea that time flows as a metaphor affect how we
theorize about time?
- How do arguments from metaphor and analogy affect our views on fundamentality?
- What is metaphorical metaphysics?  Can we do it?
- Could the foundations of philosophy be entirely constructed without metaphor?
- Should we take metaphors and analogies literally?
- How can we respond to arguments from metaphor?
- Is philosophy unique in its use of metaphor and analogy?