The Centrality of Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication: an Introduction - David T. Ritchie

• Citation: Vol. 58 No. 3
• Publication year: 2007

Using Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication

A Symposium of the Mercer Law Review

November 10, 2006

The Centrality of Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication: An Introductionby David T. Ritchie^*

Law, as a domain of human enterprise, is fundamentally discursive in nature. As such, understanding the elements of legal discourse, both analytical and communicative, is vital to understanding the nature of the enterprise. Metaphorical reasoning, and the communication of that reasoning, is one such element. Perhaps metaphor is one among many elements of legal discourse. In this view, metaphor theory would take its place alongside logic, narrative theory, rhetoric, and so on.

Some would suggest, however, that metaphor is more central than this account would suggest. In particular, the groundbreaking work of philosopher Mark Johnson and cognitive linguist George Lakoff makes the case that metaphor is absolutely central to human understanding and communication.¹ This claim, which is called "cognitive or conceptual metaphor theory," has had profound influence in many fields of human intellectual endeavor over the past twenty-five years or so. As law is a human discourse community, the claim can be applied in the context of legal analysis and communication.² This was the inspiration for the development of the Mercer Law Review symposium on "Metaphor in Legal Analysis and Communication," held November 10, 2006 in Macon, Georgia.

The initial idea, conceived by Michael Smith and myself, was to bring together key figures to discuss how cognitive metaphor theory works and what its specific application to legal analysis and communication might be. With the aid and support of the members of the Mercer Law Review and with help from several members of the faculty and administration of the Mercer University School of Law (particularly Linda Edwards, Daisy H. Floyd, Hal Lewis, and Jack Sammons), Michael Smith and I were able to plan and develop a program that accomplished this goal. The symposium brought together important representatives of the fields of cognitive science, legal communication, legal theory, philosophy, and religion to discuss the nature of metaphor and its application to the field of law. The presentations and the discussion that followed were innovative and breathtaking in their scope. The members of this panel brought home, in a real and profound way, the recognition that we "live by"³ certain metaphors; in law and in life.

The well-known...