Posts

Hannah Jackson: Outside Reading Blog Posts

9/12/19- Donald Davidson and Metaphor Donald Davidson’s conception of metaphor is simple: they mean exactly what they mean. In his essay “What Metaphors Mean,” Davidson seeks to discredit the common idea that metaphors work by operating on two levels; one literal and one outside of the literal meaning of the words. He centers specifically on the idea of metaphors being impossible to paraphrase but offers a perspective beyond the usual explanation of them conveying ideas that simply don’t lend themselves to condensing. Metaphors cannot be paraphrased because they are already in their most condensed form and say all they have to say. This is where the phenomenology of Davidson begins to appear. He founds his argument on an understanding of a sort of universal human experience of metaphor. What they accomplish is not the issue at the core of his argument, how they accomplish what they do very much is. As Davidson moves through the conventional theories of metaphor he

Hannah Jackson: Class Reading Blog Posts

8/26/19- Experiences of Beauty I was walking across campus from the Ferguson parking deck when the skies opened up above me and started dumping sheets of rain on my head. I could only make it as far as the chapel steps before the lightning and wind were too much to trudge through without ruining everything in my backpack. I stood in front of the chapel, somewhat shielded from the storm, and looked out at the trees bending and leaves flying in every direction. Suddenly, the clouds parted enough to let sunlight stream through without ending the rain and the grey was replaced with a warm golden light. Despite being soaked to the bone and shivering, I couldn’t help but laugh at the almost absurd beauty of the situation. The rain saturated every color into a deeper version of itself. Everyone had long since run inside and campus was left empty and quiet for a few minutes as if it was catching its breath. The flowers literally glimmered and danced unde