Petr Pavlas, Lenka Řezníková, Lucie Storchová (eds.): Cognitive Metaphors and Encyclopaedic Knowledge. Exploring Semantic Transformations in Early Modernity

Special Issue of The Philosophical Journal 1/2025

Metaphors in science, philosophy, and the arts are fundamental to the history of thought, serving not only to simplify complex matters but also to foster invention, speculation, and theory. Among other functions, they played an important role in the emergence of modern ideas of the encyclopaedia and encyclopaedism, thereby contributing to programs of universal knowledge, general education, and, more recently, open science. While conceptual history is widely recognised as crucial and has been thoroughly studied, the history of metaphors has so far remained in the background. This publication aims to bring it to the forefront.