Scientific metaphors: the hypothesis of the epistemic metaphor as a process subjacent the production of scientific knowledge

• Autor(a) principal: Santana, Fábio Bartolomeu
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Silva, Henrique César da, Cruz, Frederico Firmo de Souza
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Caderno Brasileiro de Ensino de Física (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/fisica/article/view/90063
• topic: Metaphor; Epistemic Metaphor; Hector Palma; Metáfora; Metáfora Epistêmica; Hector Palma

We present the fundamental assumptions and conceptual bases that structure the notion of epistemic metaphor, a hypothesis proposed by the Argentinian philosopher Hector Palma in order to describe the metaphorical processes that occur in the scientific field. Unlike ordinary metaphors, the notion of epistemic metaphor incorporates not only words or terms, but extends to a diverse range of signs commonly present in the scientific field, such as theories, laws, concepts, equations, etc. His proposition is directly related to a change of perspective, both in epistemic conceptions related to scientific activity, as well as to the metaphorical phenomenon, which occurred from the mid-twentieth century onwards. These changes allow considering the metaphorical phenomenon beyond the didactic and heuristic limits, reaching the cognitive and epistemic scopes. We therefore argue that the notion of epistemic metaphor can bring new perspectives to the understanding of scientific knowledge as well as to the teaching of science at different levels. Based on the metaphorical notion presented by Palma, we propose the notion of intrascientific epistemic metaphor, that is, we propose to consider the epistemic metaphor within a given scientific field.