隐喻的含义与解读——基于戴维森隐喻理论的考察

An Inquiry of What Metaphors Mean and How They Are Interpreted

本文对戴维森关于隐喻的含义和理解的思想进行了探讨。戴维森否认有所谓的隐喻意义这种东西。他认为,隐喻是人们富有想象地使用语词和语句的产物;隐喻与普通言说的区别在于使用而非意义;理解一个隐喻就是在做出一个隐喻,对隐喻的解释如同对梦的解析一样,它既是对梦者一方的反映,也在同样程度上是对解释者一方的反映。

This paper intends to make an inquiry of Davidson＇ s thoughts on what metaphors mean and how they are interpreted. Davidson denies that there is such a thing as metaphorical meaning. He holds that a metaphor is something brought off by the imaginative employment of words and sentences. The distinction between a metaphor and other common utterance lies not in what words mean but in what they are used to do. Understanding a metaphor is as much as making a metaphor. The interpretation of a metaphor is just like the interpretation of any dream-work, reflecting as much on the interpreter as on the originator.