24. Equivocation, Metaphor, and Figures of Speech

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Equivocation by Reason vs. Metaphor #

• Equivocation by reason is relatively close to univocal naming, involving a real likeness between meanings
• Metaphor involves much greater distance between the primary and transferred meanings
• When the distance becomes very great, it becomes difficult to distinguish metaphor from pure equivocation by reason
• Example: “to see” (physical sight), “to imagine,” and “to understand” are equivocal by reason (words for immaterial operations likened to material sight)
• Example: “the eye of the soul” (Gregory the Great) is metaphor because “eye” has no real likeness to the soul’s vision

Etymology and Language Evolution #

• Greek metaphorá and Latin translatio both mean “carry over”
• In English, metaphor means carrying over the name but not the meaning
• In English, translation means carrying over the meaning but not the name
• The words are etymologically identical but English usage has differentiated them

Metaphor in Scripture and Poetry #

• Thomas asks: Should sacred scripture use metaphors?
• Objection: Metaphor is the instrument of poets (the lowest faculty of mind), so why should theology (the highest) use it?
• Thomas’s answer: Both use metaphor because something is not proportioned to the mind, but for opposite reasons:
  • Poet: Takes something below the mind and elevates it to intelligibility
  • Scripture: Takes something above the mind and brings it down to our level
• Common metaphor: The beauty of contemplative vision called a “banquet” (found in Psalms)
• Example: “I am going to eat at my Father’s table” (Christ) - speaking metaphorically about beatitude
• Example: “Food for thought” - the mind’s object is metaphorically called food (the plant soul’s object)

How Poets Give More Meaning Than Reality #

• Shakespeare’s “like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our men taste unto their end” gives minutes of time more existence than they possess
• Waves coming in include those already existing and those not yet existing; similarly, past and future minutes are given a unity they don’t have in reality
• Poets capture universal human experience by concentrating meaning (as Titian captures a person’s whole character in one portrait expression)
• Great portrait painters seem impossible in reality: no single expression captures a person’s whole character, yet Titian achieves this through concentration and meaning-giving

Comparison to Homer and the Iliad #

• The original Iliad likely derives from an insignificant pirate raid on the coast of Asia Minor
• Homer transformed it into an image of human life itself, giving it tremendous significance and meaning
• This is what great poets do: elevate the commonplace through artistic concentration

Music and the Elevation of Meaning #

• Mozart takes commonplace, even ridiculous situations and raises them through music to fill them with meaning and mystery
• Great musicians do what great painters and poets do: make commonplace things more meaningful than they are in themselves

Figures of Speech #

Metonymy (Metonomy) #

• “The White House announced today…” involves two figures:
  1. Antonomasia: “The White House” among all white houses = the President’s house specifically
  2. Metonymy: The building (container) stands for the person/spokesman in it (contained)
• The container is substituted for what it contains
• Example: “I’m drinking a glass of water” - technically drinking what’s in the glass, not the glass itself
• Example: “I drank a cup of tea” - the cup contains the tea
• Historical example: Pharaoh originally meant the palace/dwelling, later applied to the ruler
• Modern example: “The Pentagon” (the building shaped like a pentagon) for the people/institution within it
• Ecclesiastical example: “Rome has spoken, the case is closed” - the city for the Church’s authority
• Regional usage: In Northern California, “the city” refers specifically to San Francisco

Natural Use #

• These figures of speech are very natural and commonly used in daily language
• Both philosophy and ordinary discourse employ them, though philosophy uses metaphor less than rhetoric or poetry

Philosophy and Rhetoric vs. Poetry #

• Philosophers appeal primarily to the intellect, not the imagination
• Poets and rhetoricians appeal to the imagination
• Examples in philosophy are used to make things clear and aid understanding
• Modern philosophers sometimes give examples that appeal to imagination, which can mislead students (they remember the story but not the point)
• Rhetoric uses metaphor less than poetry but still employs figures of speech

Example of Irony and Rhetorical Effect #

• An English professor gave a talk on John Dewey to a college that highly valued Dewey
• The professor seemed to praise Dewey but was actually tearing him apart through subtle criticism
• The audience didn’t realize they were being critiqued until after he left
• This demonstrates how equivocal language and figure can obscure meaning in rhetoric

Categories and Position (from natural philosophy digression) #

• Thomas points out that in speaking of time, we don’t need a separate category since time already includes the notion of “before” and “after”
• Categories of “acting upon” and “being acted upon” (ἀγία/πάσχειν) are distinct from quality
• Example: “The fire is hot” (quality) vs. “The fire is heating the water” (acting upon something external)
• Example: “The water is warm” (quality) vs. “The water is being heated” (being acted upon)

Etymology of “Poet” #

• Greek ποιητής (poiëtés) means “the maker” from ποιεῖν (poieîn), “to make”
• Among all those who make, the poet is called the maker par excellence
• Aristotle uses this term when discussing artistic creation

Key Arguments #

The Distance Problem #

• Univocal terms have one meaning
• Equivocal by reason involves a real likeness, though meanings differ
• Pure equivocation involves no real likeness, just the same word used differently
• Metaphor occupies the extreme end of the spectrum - so distant it’s hard to distinguish from pure equivocation
• As distance increases, classification becomes difficult

Why Metaphor Suits Both Scripture and Poetry (But for Opposite Reasons) #

1. Both deal with what is not proportioned to the human mind
2. Poetry elevates what is beneath human understanding to make it intelligible
3. Scripture descends what is above human understanding to make it accessible
4. This explains why scripture, like poetry, uses metaphor extensively
5. But the metaphor serves opposite purposes in each case

Why Names Keep Old or Receive New Names (in Logic) #

• When something adds a new quality or character to a concept, it receives a new name
• When something lacks a quality, it keeps the old name
• Example: Verbum (verb) has time, nomen (noun) lacks time → verb gets the new name, noun keeps the common name onoma
• Example: Making (ποίησις) produces an external product; doing (πρᾶξις) does not → making gets a new name, doing keeps it
• Example: Habit is a firm disposition; mere disposition is not firm → habit gets the new name, disposition keeps it
• Example: Syllogism has complete universality in one premise; enthymeme uses likelihood → enthymeme gets a new name, syllogism keeps it

Important Definitions #

Metaphor (Metaphorá/Translatio) #

• A carrying over of a name (not meaning) from one thing to another at great distance
• More distant than equivocation by reason
• Involves giving things more meaning or intelligibility than they possess in themselves

Equivocation by Reason (Aequivocatio à ratione) #

• Use of one word with two related but distinct meanings based on a real likeness
• Much closer to univocal than to pure equivocation
• Example: “to see” applied to both physical sight and intellectual understanding

Metonymy/Metonomy (Metonymia) #

• A figure of speech where the container is substituted for the thing contained
• Or where a closely related concept is substituted for the primary one
• Example: “the White House announced” (building for the person/spokesman inside)

Antonomasia (Antonomasía) #

• Substitution of an epithet or descriptive phrase for a proper name, or vice versa
• Example: “the White House” as designation of the specific presidential residence

Examples & Illustrations #

Literary Examples #

• Shakespeare: “Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our men taste unto their end” - gives temporal moments more existence than they have
• Gregory the Great: “Anger disturbs the eye of the soul” - metaphor (not equivocation by reason) because soul has no real likeness to physical eye
• Dante’s Divine Comedy: Takes supernatural reality above us and brings it down through imaginative narrative
• Homer’s Iliad: Transforms a minor historical pirate raid into an image of universal human experience

Theological Examples #

• “The beauty of contemplative vision is a banquet” (from Psalms and Church tradition)
• “Christ: I am going to eat at my Father’s table” - metaphorical speech about beatitude
• “Food for thought” - the mind’s object metaphorically called food (as plant soul’s object is food)

Everyday Language Examples #

• “The White House announced today” (container for person)
• “I’m drinking a glass of water” (container for contents)
• “The Pentagon is working on this” (building for institution/people within)
• “Rome has spoken” (city for ecclesiastical authority)
• “The city” in Northern California = San Francisco specifically

Rhetorical Example #

• English professor praising John Dewey while actually critiquing him through subtle language
• Demonstrates how equivocation and figure can obscure meaning

Philosophical Examples #

• Verb (verbum) vs. noun (nomen): Verb adds the quality of time, so receives new name; noun keeps common name
• Making (ποίησις/poiesis) vs. doing (πρᾶξις/praxis): Making produces external product (chair), doing does not (seeing); making gets new name
• Habit vs. disposition: Habit is stable/firm, mere disposition is not; habit gets new name
• Syllogism vs. enthymeme: Syllogism requires complete universality, enthymeme uses likelihood; enthymeme gets new name

Questions Addressed #

Why should sacred scripture use metaphor if metaphor is the instrument of poets (the lowest faculty)? #

• Because both scripture and poetry deal with what is not proportioned to the human mind
• Poetry elevates insignificant things to intelligibility (from below)
• Scripture brings divine realities down to human comprehension (from above)
• The metaphor serves opposite purposes but fulfills a necessary function in both cases

How do we distinguish metaphor from equivocation by reason? #

• Equivocation by reason has a real likeness between the meanings (relatively close)
• Metaphor involves great distance, with little or no real likeness
• As distance increases, the distinction becomes harder to perceive
• The farther the distance, the more it resembles pure equivocation

Why does a name receive a new designation when something is added or absent? #

• When a concept gains a new quality (time, external product, firmness, etc.), the change is significant enough to warrant a new name
• When a concept merely lacks a quality, it keeps the original name
• This reflects how reason distinguishes and categorizes reality

How do figures of speech work in natural language? #

• Metonymy (container for contained) is extremely natural and commonly used
• Both the container and contained can be expressed by the same term
• Examples span from sacred scripture to modern political discourse
• The figure is so natural that speakers use it without conscious reflection

Notable Quotes #

“It’s hard to tell the difference between the two [metaphor and equivocation by reason], right? Because here you’re stretching it.” — Duane Berquist, on the difficulty of distinguishing metaphor from equivocation by reason

“Metaphor and translation are etymologically exactly the same… but in English they’ve come to mean opposite things: metaphor carries over the name but not the meaning; translation carries over the meaning but not the name.” — Duane Berquist, on English linguistic development

“In the case of the poet, he’s trying to take something that, in itself, is not understandable, and he’s trying to bring it up and make it more understandable than it really is. The scripture is trying to take something that’s above our mind, very understandable, but above our mind, and trying to bring it down to our mind.” — Duane Berquist, explaining Thomas Aquinas on metaphor in scripture vs. poetry

“These characters in Shakespeare like Hamlet and King Lear… they’re much more sharply drawn in our memory and imagination than people who are known in daily life.” — Duane Berquist, on how art gives more intelligibility than reality