An Inquiry of What Metaphors Mean and How They Are Interpreted

This paper intends to make an inquiry of Davidson's thoughts on what metaphors mean and how they are interpreted.Davidson denies that there is such a thing as metaphorical meaning.He holds that a metaphor is something brought off by the imaginative employment of words and sentences.The distinction between a metaphor and other common utterance lies not in what words mean but in what they are used to do.Understanding a metaphor is as much as making a metaphor.The interpretation of a metaphor is just like the interpretation of any dream-work,reflecting as much on the interpreter as on the originator.