Abstract: Metaphor is an ancient concern of poets, philosophers, rhetoricians and historians as well as speakers and audience, writers and readers. Metaphor was, among the ancient Greeks, something important to poetics, rhetoric, philosophy and politics. Since the Greeks, metaphor has become a topic of many coats: in recent decades, there have been studies of metaphor in chess, cognition, cognitive science, psychoanalysis, psycholinguistics, psychology, linguistics, organizational behaviour, education and much else in actual, fictional and virtual worlds. This lecture contextualizes a few aspects of this metaphorical explosion of metaphor, especially in the last century or so, by discussing classical, medieval and nineteenth century views. Before I focus on Paul Ricœur, I discuss Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and G. W. F. Hegel […]

Abstract: The Great Gatsby might lay easily claim to be “the great” American novel of the 20th century. As we approach the centenary of its publication - 2025 - this seminar explores some stranger features of the novel that are rarely touched upon. These include the implicit religion of the novel, and yet the absence of God. We will also explore some of the other more familiar themes - including repression, depression, gaudy conspicuous consumption, dishonesty, and classism. If the novel were written today, the parallels with Mar-a-Largo in Florida and the world of Donald Trump might be hard to resist. As this seminar will explore, here again we find distorted and refracted signals of faith and belief in 2025, just as in 1925.   […]