Metaphor and the theory of libidinal development.

Abstract

The author argues that ongoing work in cognitive linguistics affords a better understanding of how metaphor functions, both in psychic life and in the formulation of psychoanalytic theory. Lakoff and Johnson have shown that a great deal of our thought and perception depends on mainly unconscious metaphors, drawn in large part from basic bodily experience. Their findings can be most immediately related to psychoanalysis via the theory of libidinal development. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the theory of libidinal development was itself generated in part by a metaphor--a misleading embryological one, which, historically, has tended to encourage reification. Secondly, the links that the theory points out between experience of cathected zones and later character traits are essentially metaphorical (or metonymic) in nature. The author considers that it should be possible to re-express the classical theory in language that both avoids reification and gives due importance to metaphor, and that such a re-expression would offer a number of advantages, including that of clarifying the relationship between possession of a penis and 'phallic' character traits.