{"pk":50385,"title":"Metaphorical Triangulation","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Metaphors are powerful tools for explaining abstract concepts, but a single explanatory metaphor may be ineffective if the target system is sufficiently complex or the metaphor is counterintuitive. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research on metaphor and analogy, I describe a more systematic explanatory strategy: metaphorical triangulation. This involves (1) describing an intuitive mental model of the target phenomenon in terms of a concrete—but flawed—metaphor, drawing attention to its weaknesses; (2) presenting an alternative metaphorical model designed to address these weaknesses; and (3) providing supplementary metaphors to further develop the preferred account of the target phenomenon and address shortcomings of the alternative metaphor. I show how philosopher Daniel Dennett used this strategy to illuminate a range of puzzling issues, from evolution to consciousness, and I present some preliminary empirical support for this approach. I encourage scientists and educators to consider how they might use metaphorical triangulation in their work.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"Education; Linguistics; Philosophy; Psychology; Analogy; Consciousness; Reasoning; Case studies; Knowledge representation; Qualitative Analysis"}],"section":"Member Abstracts with Poster Presentation","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jc3d81r","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Stephen","middle_name":"","last_name":"Flusberg","name_suffix":"","institution":"Vassar College","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2025-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/50385/galley/38347/download/"}]}