政治隐喻对现实的除蔽与设障

Political Metaphor:Disclosing and Hiding the Reality

隐喻是语言的固有成分,是人们重要的认知工具。在概念传递的过程中,政治隐喻通过相似性联通起政治概念与人们已有的知识和经验,从而为人们理解那些政治概念除蔽。但政治隐喻在呈现某一相似性的同时,也藏匿了其它相似性,而且它所呈现的相似性也未必是现实,它又成了人们理解现实的屏障。因此,政治隐喻为人们的认知活动设定了框架,成为构建现实的重要方式,并以此影响和激发人们的行动。政治隐喻的研究揭示那些看似中性、自然、恰当的语言如何对现实进行染色和过滤。

Metaphor is an intrinsic component of language and an important cognitive tool for humans. When carrying over between one concept and another, political metaphors render some political concepts clear by drawing on the similarites between concepts and people＇s previous knowledge and experience. But political metaphors also hide some other similarities at the same time and those projected similarities are not necessarily true. As a result of that, political metaphors become an obstacle towards understanding. Political metaphors are able to influence concepts and inspire actions by structuring human＇s cognition and creating reality. To understand policital metaphors is to understand how the seemingly neutral, natural, and accurate langugage colors and filters the reality.