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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Aristotelian Perspectives For Post-modern Reason (ii) Metaphor as a creative discovery of similarity The Aristotelian outlook allows us to integrate knowledge and action. Or, rather, it allows to see the human being as a unitary whole, whose motivations, knowledge and movements are only different in the analysis, but are physically integrated in one and the same substance, they are that substance.

The notion of practical truth, or creative discovery, is then applicable to all aspects of human life. The prime object of creative discovery is similarity. This process of creative discovery could correctly be called metaphorization. To discover the similarity is at the same time to actualize it.

The discovery of the similarity breaks the extremes of identity and difference, produces a mid point and, better, enables us to see ‘this’ as ‘that’ and, from there, to build concepts, laws and theories, and to physically transform ‘this’ into ‘that’, in what would be just one more differentiated action. ‘[...]we all naturally find it agreeable to get hold of new ideas easily; words express ideas and therefore those words are the most agreeable that enable us to get hold of new ideas.

Now strange words simply puzzle us; ordinary words convey only what we know already; it is from metaphor that we can best get hold of something fresh ( he dè metaphorá poieî toûto málista ). When the poet calls old age “a withered stalk”, he conveys a new idea, a new fact, to us by means of the general notion ( dià toû génous ) of “lost bloom”, which is common to both things. The similes of the poets do the same, and therefore, if they are good similes, give an effect of brilliance[^25] ‘.

Let us comment on some salient features of this passage. After this text, no doubt could remain of the cognitive purport of metaphor and simile, although Aristotle does stress that in order to be cognitive, they must fulfil certain requirements, that is they must be proper. Secondly, we are informed that teaching is accomplished by means of the kind ( dià toû génous ), when an objective similarity hits one in the eye.

The kind is but a means of gaining knowledge - it is not the final purpose of knowledge. Showing that two entities are similar in some way, that they belong to the same kind , enables us to transfer our knowledge of the more familiar one to the other, thus affording us a better understanding of the new or inexperienced.