Chapter 4 - Conceptual Metaphors for Mind, Intention, and Self in Homer

Summary

Here, the author provides a study of some of the metaphors that structure Homeric references to the mental world. His study of this domain is less thorough than in the case of time and speech, and his attention is targeted towards specific problems. The chapter opens with a discussion of Bruno Snell's The Discovery of the Mind, and the controversies that it aroused. The author then moves on to discuss metaphors of the mind as a container, mental activity as the interaction between wind and liquid (following the work of Michael Clarke), and intention as movement towards a goal. The final section of the chapter deals with the question of inner dialogue with the θυμός, where the author applies Lakoff's metaphors of the self in order to demonstrate that the Homeric metaphor is not as strange as it may first appear.