Military Metaphors Research Articles

À conquista da sabedoria. A pintura de quadratura e o programa iconográfico da Biblioteca Joanina

O artigo propõe a releitura do processo de construção e decoração da Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra, conhecida como Biblioteca Joanina (1716-1728). O texto reinterpreta o contexto artístico e cultural da primeira metade do reinado de D. João V (1707- acerca de 1728) e o impacto dos projetos do arquiteto italiano Filippo Juvarra para a nova cidade de Lisboa (1719). A construção da Biblioteca Joanina integrou o plano de renovação do conhecimento em todos os campos do saber promovido por D. João V, pela rainha D. Maria Ana de Áustria e pela corte portuguesa. Desta forma, o artigo oferece uma nova interpretação do programa iconográfico, baseado na metáfora militar. A Biblioteca torna-se fortaleza da Sabedoria que o estudante-soldado é chamado a conquistar. No interior, o espaço do conhecimento é dividido em três etapas progressivas: o espaço da adquisição dos novos saberes (Imago Bibliotecae); do conhecimento académico (Universitas) e do enciclopédico (Enciclopedia). Porém, o verdadeiro objetivo final é alcançar a sabedoria do Sabio Cristão, tal como a descreve padre Rafael Bluteau nas suas Prosas Academicas… (1717-1728). Chegando ao fim do seu percurso, depostas as armas aos pés do soberano, o estudante-conquistador espelha-se no retrato de rei D. João V, imagem vivente do Sabio Cristão. O texto aprofunda, também, os seguintes tópicos: 1) as conexões artísticas com a arquitetura italiana e austríaca; 2) as estreitas relações entre a pintura de arquiteturas em perspetiva, realizada nos três tetos da Biblioteca Joanina por António Simões Ribeiro e Vicente Nunes, e a tradição da “quadratura” bolonhesa; 3) a carência de fornecimento de livros para a Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra, depois da conclusão do edifício e ao longo da segunda metade do reino de D. João V; 4) a reinterpretação da quadratura dos tetos da Biblioteca Joanina por António Augusto Gonçalves no século XIX; 5) as obras de restauro promovidas pela Direção dos Monumentos Nacionais entre 1931 e 1934 e o envolvimento do pintor Joaquim Lopes, Professor de artes no Porto.

The Tension between Heroic Masculinity and the Christian Self in the Old English Andreas

The article’s aim is to elucidate the religious transformations of the secular notions of identity and masculinity in Andreas. Andreas is a religious poem composed in Anglo-Saxon England around the ninth century. It is an adaptation of the Latin recension of the Acts of the Apostle Andrew, but the poet uses heroic diction borrowed from Old English secular poetry to rework the metaphor of miles Christi that is ubiquitous in Christian literature. The poet uses the military metaphor to inculcate the Christian notion of masculinity as the inversion of the secular perception of manliness. He draws upon a paradox, attested in the early Christian writings, that spiritual masculinity is true manliness, superior to military masculinity, and that it is expressed through patient suffering and the acknowledgment of defeat. The poem inverts the notions of war and victory to depict the physical defeat of the martyr as a spiritual victory over sin and the devil.

Walk the line

> Ain't no fight this fight, > > No war to win, man. > > Keep it simple. > > Keep it real. > > No need for military metaphors. > > I'm into hobbling, now: hobbling and limping, > > this right foot keen for dropping, > > which means lots of free falling. > > Lots of pragmatic looking down > > keeping eyes wide open all the time > > on this broken down leg of mine.

Solon and the Rhetoric of Stasis

This article considers how Solon recasts the traditional imagery of warfare and violence in order to bolster his persona as a “reconciler” (cf. Ath. Pol. 5.1–2) and peacemaker. Beginning with the fragments of his Salamis, I examine Solon’s skilled use of persona and emotion, building on the elegiac tradition of martial exhortation. Turning to fr. 4, I trace one of its most striking features, namely, the way it applies the language of epic warfare to stasis, and so suggests that the dichotomies of war versus peace, and enemy versus self, do not work in contemporary Athens. The manipulation of epic language and war imagery to support Solon’s role as reconciler is equally evident in fr. 5, and communicates Solon’s role as an outstanding and impartial protector, whose achievement has been to save the Athenians from unjust (i.e., internal) violence. In fr. 36, one of the most fascinating surviving examples of the political use of iambus in the archaic period, Solon foregrounds the damage to Athenian society caused by greed, debt, and enslavement for it and presents his unbiased reforms as having prevented civil war. By adapting epic imagery, Solon emphasizes his unfair treatment as an outsider, as he, the saviour of his community, is cast in the role of an antisocial animal. Finally, in fr. 37, Solon’s imagery is geared to arguing that the current conflict is best resolved not by violence but by peaceful agreement, a symbol of reconciliation embodied in Solon himself. Throughout my discussion, I focus on how Solon uses two strategies in particular to communicate the importance of his role: the first is the way he applies military language and metaphors to political situations and relationships in order to highlight the evils of stasis; the second is the way he recasts traditional imagery of warfare and violence to highlight his efforts, and his success, as a “reconciler” (διαλλακτής) of the warring parties.

СПЕЦИФИКА УПОТРЕБЛЕНИЯ ВОЕННОЙ МЕТАФОРЫ В СПОРТИВНОМ ДИСКУРСЕ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the military metaphor in sports texts from the beginning of the ХХI century and up to the present by the material of text fragments of the Russian National Corpus. The scientific novelty of the research is that for the first time an integral description of the military metaphor is given. The author reveals the thematic groups and lexico-grammatical categories of military vocabulary that are most often subjected to the process of metaphorization in the language of sport. The features of their use are identified.

Force and Presence in the World of Medicine

Medicine can not only be read with a poetic imagination, but also configured as a poetic practice, moving beyond the instrumental. The poet Wallace Stevens made a distinction between ‘Force’ and ‘Presence’—the former can be read as combative, the latter as pacific. Modern medicine has been shaped historically by the combative metaphor of a ‘war against disease’, turning medicine into a quasi-militaristic culture fond of hierarchy. This is supplemented by the metaphor of the ‘body as machine’, reducing the complex and unpredictable body to a linear, if complicated, apparatus. The two metaphors align medicine with the modern industrial–military complex that is masculine, heroic, and controlling in character. In an era in which medicine is feminising and expected to be patient-centred, collaborative (inter-professional) and transparent to the public as a democratic gesture, the industrial–military metaphor complex should no longer be shaping medicine—yet its influence is still keenly felt, especially in surgery. This continuing dominance of Force over Presence matters because it is a style running counter to the collaborative, team-based medicine needed for high levels of patient safety. Medicine will authentically democratise only as new, pacific shaping metaphors emerge: those of ‘Presence’, such as ‘hospitality’. Hospitals can once again become places of hospitality.

Two Military Metaphors in Elihu’s Fourth Speech (JOB 36:19–20)

This article suggests that the difficulties associated with the interpretation of Job 36:19–20 stem from the misconception that these verses are an elaboration of v. 18b, and refer to Job’s potentially misguided notions: his reliance on wealth, pleading, salvation, etc. Accordingly, commentators usually understood שׁוO¼×¢O²×sO¸ as meaning “your cry for help, your wealth”. The reading שׁוO¹×¢O²×sO¸ , and its meaning “your noble, your potentate”, has been ignored, whether intentionally or not. It is shown in this study that if such a reading and sense are admitted, a simple coherent text can be obtained in which Elihu tries to advise Job on what his attitude toward God should be, using military metaphors and terminology. The metaphors in vv. 19–20, relating to daytime and night-time military operations, fit contextually the list of warnings in vv. 18–21, but are focused on misdirection and confusion. Elihu advises Job that in his complaints, like any commander, he should have a clear target, and not look for surprising moves, which might cause more surprise to him than to his opponent

Illness as a Burden in Anglo-Saxon England

As a culturally constructed concept, illness may be conceptualised through various metaphors across different times and cultures. This paper presents evidence based on readings from the Dictionary of Old English Corpus in Electronic Form (Healey et al. 1998) and the Dictionary of Old English (DOE) that in Old English illness is conceptualised as a heavy burden. The significance of the illness is a burden metaphor in Old English is greater than in Present Day English, in which, as pointed out by Goddard and Wierzbicka (2014) it would not be usual to speak of a heavy illness. The paper also investigates whether there is evidence for a nascent form of the military metaphor for illness and medicine, as identified by Sontag (1978/1991) and exemplified in Middle English by Diaz-Vera (2009). The military metaphor suggests a different approach to illness, in which one ‘fights’ the affliction. This is not well-evidenced in Old English, and it is argued in this paper that these two conceptual metaphors are based on distinct cultural schemas (Quinn 1987). While illness is a burden is to an extent grounded in embodied experience (Lakoff and Johnson 1999), the conceptualisation in Old English cannot fully be understood without also taking into account cultural schemas influenced by the humoral theory of disease aetiology, and by the religious context.

Led up the garden path? Weeds, conservation rhetoric, and environmental management

ABSTRACTGarden plants have become a target in conservation science discourse, particularly the notion that they ‘jump the garden fence’ to become weeds. This paper synthesises findings of a suite of projects exploring the ‘culture of weeds’ through different disciplinary lenses. Together they agree that while home gardens sometimes contain plants known to be environmental weeds, gardens may not always be the vector for their spread into nearby bushland. Many plants attributed to gardens, in fact, originate in agriculture. The metaphor ‘jumping the garden fence’ obscures the complex pathways that underpin the spread of weeds. Weeding is an important part of both gardening and caring for bushland. Historically, we have been weeding the bush for a long time, and it is an important human activity. If it is industrialised, as it has been in agriculture, through broad-scale chemical and mechanical processes, it may be less valuable to both the bush and the people who care for it. A closer scrutiny of the military metaphors associated with enemy weeds may enable a different sort of weeding and different relations with the bush in Australia. It may even be that we need to garden the bush to get the wilderness we desire.

Fellow Athletes or Fellow Soldiers? συναθλέω in Philippians 1.27 and 4.3

There is no agreement between interpreters as to whether the verb συναθλέω in Phil. 1.27 and 4.3 presupposes an athletic or a military metaphor. Given that first-century athletes were unlikely to compete as a team, the prefix συν- often puzzles those who interpret συναθλέω as an athletic term, and it is also one of the reasons why others opt for a military background. While the use of the verb alone does not provide any certainty as to the presupposed imagery, in this article I argue that the presence of the prefix συν- does not preclude athletics as a plausible option. Even though team sports were not part of official athletic contests, based on epigraphic evidence I suggest that, in spite of fierce competition, there may have existed a sense of fellowship between ancient athletes in the Roman period. In addition, it is likely that it was enhanced by the existence of a ‘worldwide’ athletic association.

Healthy Canadian adolescents’ perspectives of cancer using metaphors: a qualitative study

ObjectivesCancer has been described using metaphors for over 4 decades. However, little is known about healthy adolescents’ perspectives of cancer using metaphors. This paper reports on findings specific to adolescents’...

Роль метафоры в формировании терминологии военного дискурса (на материале англоязычных периодических изданий)

The article is devoted to the study of metaphor as a cognitive mechanism for the creation of a new term, based on the integration and reinvention of knowledge in the light of background information and new field of special knowledge. The material is the English articles devoted to the military. The important role of the process of metaphorization in the formation of modern English terminology of military discourse is established. Appeal to the study of military terminology is important due to its intensive development in conditions of modern technological progress and significance of issues related to the military sphere. The main areas-sources of lexical borrowings used for the formation of metaphorical terms of military discourse are identified. Actualized indications of borrowed lexical units are considered. The most productive thematic areas of the metaphorical terms formation are revealed. The unevenness of metaphorical nomination in thematic groups reflects the dynamics of the emergence of new concepts within the thematic groups, and, consequently, the value relevance of the thematic groups for the military team. It is proved that formation of military terminology metaphor is based on the principles of anthropometrical, consistency, selectivity and relevance, giving an idea of the system of value orientations of specialist in studied area.

Healing Without Waging War: Beyond Military Metaphors in Medicine and HIV Cure Research

Military metaphors are pervasive in biomedicine, including HIV research. Rooted in the mind set that regards pathogens as enemies to be defeated, terms such as “shock and kill” have become widely accepted idioms within HIV cure research. Such language and symbolism must be critically examined as they may be especially problematic when used to express scientific ideas within emerging health-related fields. In this article, philosophical analysis and an interdisciplinary literature review utilizing key texts from sociology, anthropology, history, and Chinese and African studies were conducted to investigate the current proliferation of military metaphors. We found the use of these metaphors to be ironic, unfortunate, and unnecessary. To overcome military metaphors we propose to (1) give them less aggressive meanings, and/or (2) replace them with more peaceful metaphors. Building on previous authors' work, we argue for the increased use of “journey” (and related) metaphors as meaningful, cross-culturally appropriate alternatives to military metaphors.

War-Games in the Song of Songs: A Reading of Song 2,4 in Light of Cognitive Linguistics

ABSTRACTWhile the Song of Songs is often considered a tender love po-em, it also uses military metaphors to describe the loving relationship of its characters. This suggests that the Song’s concept of love may be more com-plex and perhaps more paradoxical than is usually assumed. Cognitive Lin-guistics, which currently represents the central point of reference for the study both of ordinary and literary metaphors, can shed light on the Song’s concep-tualization of love in terms of war. The present article provides i) a presenta-tion of some insights on metaphorical phenomena coming from Cognitive Linguistics, and ii) a reading of a paradigmatic warlike metaphor, i.e. Song 2,4, in light of this new, pioneering approach.

You’re in the Army now!

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the employment of the military metaphor by the management thinker and writer Lyndall Urwick who in the twentieth century developed and articulated his ideas over a 60-year period, arguably the longest continuous period of any management writer of his day.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on published research into Urwick as well as upon the breadth of his published writings over a 60-year period. It offers a contextualised explanatory analysis of his military theory ideas and explores their lack of traction by reference to British military, economic and social history.FindingsThe study reveals the wartime context that surrounded the emergence of his ideas and motivated Urwick’s faith in the military approach to management. This stood in contrast to the countervailing forces of the post-war decline in British industry and a populist mythology of British Army mismanagement and failure in the Great War.Originality/valueIn this case of a management idea’s failure to gain traction, the importance of the congruence between management theory and societal beliefs emerges as crucial to the likely uptake of new management thinking.

Military metaphors and the consequences of the language of cancer

Military metaphors and the consequences of the language of cancer

Ebola and Human Rights: Post-9/11 Public Health and Safety in Epidemics.

In public health practice, the concepts of health and safety are often conflated. However, protecting and promoting health is radically different from protecting and promoting safety. Since 9/11, the distinctions between health and safety have changed and are in the process of merging. In our terrorism-obsessed world, public health has been increasingly militarized and enlisted, often without protest, into the service of protecting the safety of the public and the security of the nation. But safety and security are the proper purposes of law enforcement and the military, not of public health. More importantly, using public health to combat terrorism is often counterproductive to the population's health, and undermines human rights. Using the Ebola epidemic of 2014, this Article suggests how the post-9/11 reframing of public health goals as including disaster preparedness and counterterrorism, and the new military metaphors we have adopted to describe public health, have deformed our public health agencies, and have made them less trusted by the public. In turn, these agencies are therefore less able to prevent and respond to new infectious diseases. The United States' response to Ebola gives us an opportunity to reconsider the merger of public health and public safety domestically and globally. This Article suggests that a deeper commitment to human rights, especially to the right to health, has the theoretical and practical strength to act as a countervailing force and refocus public health on the health of populations rather than on safety and national security.

Healing Without Waging War: Beyond Military Metaphors in Medicine and HIV Cure Research

Healing Without Waging War: Beyond Military Metaphors in Medicine and HIV Cure Research

The Family Doctors: Images and Metaphors of the Family Doctor to Learn Family Medicine

The conceptual elements and skills that promote the mastery of family medicine, such as contextual knowledge, continuity of care, the clinical interview, comprehensiveness, coordination, and so on, are often difficult to explain and to understand. Medicine is often learned through a mechanistic metaphor of biology and a military metaphor of war. However, these fundamental concepts of family medicine have nothing to do with the metaphor of the machine or the metaphor of war. In this book, “THE FAMILY DOCTORS: Images and Metaphors of the Family Doctor to Learn Family Medicine”, these concepts are explained through metaphors that are more explanatory, nicer, sweeter, and more playful. Thus, among other metaphors, the family doctor is presented as the genie in Aladdin’s lamp, as a drinker of Chinese tea, a classic painter, an explorer on a desert island, as a bass, a plug, a photographer, an historian, a person eating spaghetti or cherries, a cat, a civil engineer, a catalyst, a meteorologist, a detective, a fisherman rather than a hunter, a sculptor, a sea turtle, a golfer, a filter coffee, a diver, a poet, a billiards player, a mother who picks up her baby, and a nuts and bolts mechanism. Thinking based on metaphors and comparisons is a way of making a concept so suggestive, interesting and surprising, that it reaches people more easily. The value of family medicine lies in its distinctiveness from academic medicine. Thus, the family doctor should be encouraged to use a non-conventional form when thinking about the problems that are presented in the consultation, for example, thinking on the basis of metaphors.

A computer-assisted study of the use of Violence metaphors for cancer and end of life by patients, family carers and health professionals

This study combines quantitative semi-automated corpus methods with manual qualitative analysis to investigate the use of Violence metaphors for cancer and end of life in a 1,500,000-word corpus of data from three stakeholder groups in healthcare: patients, family carers and healthcare professionals. Violence metaphors in general, especially military metaphors, are conventionally used to talk about illness, particularly cancer. However, they have also been criticized for their potentially negative implications. The use of innovative methodology enables us to undertake a more rigorous and systematic investigation of Violence metaphors than has previously been possible. Our findings show that patients, carers and professionals use a much wider set of Violence-related metaphors than noted in previous studies, and that metaphor use varies between interview and online forum genres and amongst different stakeholder groups. Our study has implications for the computer-assisted study of metaphor, metaphor theory and analysis more generally, and communication in healthcare settings.