Math and Metaphor
Daniel F. Daniel

Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science
Pages 225–236

Abstract

Permit me to begin with the outrageous claim staked out in the title of this paper. That there is a relationship between the structure of mathematics and the structure of metaphor. By beginning here we will start very near the end of my more than decade long quest to understand the nature of language. For a student Of literature, and narrative in particular, this is tantamount to ignoring the first four acts of a classical five-act drama. An additional assertion, however, is that it is ultimately nature's complex unraveling which has brought us to this point. I hope to suggest some of the analytical unraveling , (denouement) required to understand this relationship. While I will do no more than suggest that particle physics is deeply implicated in this work, before the work is completed, metaphor, complex number, and quark will be inevitably involved.

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