Metaphor, ambiguity, and motive in evolutionary biology - W. D. Hamilton and the "Gene's point of view"
Metaphor, ambiguity, and motive in evolutionary biology - W. D. Hamilton and the "Gene's point of view"
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DOI：
10.1177/0741088305279953
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发表时间：
2005-10-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Journet, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Journet, D
本文分析了模糊隐喻在呈现科学新颖性方面的力量。它的重点是著名群体生物学家 W. D. 汉密尔顿 (W. D. Hamilton) 的一系列论文，他在其中重新定义了生物利他主义的含义。特别是，本文利用肯尼思·伯克的戏剧性五元组来研究为什么动机暗示在汉密尔顿对遗传进化的表述中如此普遍，以及这种修辞选择会产生什么认识论后果。具体来说，动机的隐喻语言使汉密尔顿能够模糊地同时将基因表示为进化行为的代理人和有机体代理人发挥作用的机构或机制。主体-主体隐喻所产生的文本歧义既反映又构建了进化过程理论化方式中的概念歧义。因此，对汉密尔顿修辞的分析表明，在技术性很强的科学文本中，模棱两可的隐喻具有生产性的功能。
This article analyzes the power of ambiguous metaphors to present scientific novelty. Its focus is a series of papers by the prominent population biologist W. D. Hamilton in which he redefined the meaning of biological altruism. In particular, the article draws on Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad to examine why suggestions of motive are so pervasive in Hamilton's representation of genetic evolution and what epistemological consequences result from this rhetorical choice. Specifically, the metaphorical language of motive allows Hamilton to represent genes ambiguously and simultaneously as both the agents of evolutionary action and as the agency or mechanism by which organism agents act. The textual ambiguity generated by the agent-agency metaphors both reflects and constructs a conceptual ambiguity in the way evolutionary processes are theorized. Analysis of Hamilton's rhetoric thus suggests the productive function of ambiguous metaphors in highly technical scientific texts.