Metaphor and Analogy

Abstract

There seems little reason to doubt that within the Thomist tradition it is assumed that a metaphor is one thing, an analogous term another, and that while metaphor is justifiable—certainly in poetry, but as well if for different reasons in Scripture—it is, generally speaking, something the philosopher should take pains to avoid, since it can vitiate arguments and obscure issues. St Thomas himself often characterizes the metaphor as improper usage, thereby of course opposing it to proper usage. The question arises, however, when we consider the texts carefully, whether metaphor is opposed to the analogous name or whether proper and improper usage of the kind at issue are subtypes of something more commodious embracing them both; that is, it appears from a reading of some texts that St Thomas does not so much oppose metaphor to analogy as that he contrasts the analogous usage which is metaphorical because improper to the analogous usage which is proper. Cajetan’s division of analogy of proportionality into proper and improper responds to this suggestion of St Thomas, and if the great commentator tends to regard metaphor as someting less than a full-fledged analogy, well surely that does not mean that it is in no way an analogy.¹