TEDGlobal 2009
James Geary: Metaphorically speaking
James Geary, Metaforički govoreći
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Zaljubljenik u aforizme, autor, James Geary, razotkriva jednu fascinantnu konstantu ljudskog jezika: metaforu. Geary kao ljubitelj tekstova od Aristotela do Elvisa, kaže da metafora može suptilno utjecati na odluke koje donosimo.
James Geary - Aphorist
Lost jobs, wayward lovers, wars and famine -- come to think of it, just about any of life's curveballs -- there's an aphorism for it, and James Geary's got it. Full bio
Lost jobs, wayward lovers, wars and famine -- come to think of it, just about any of life's curveballs -- there's an aphorism for it, and James Geary's got it. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
Metaphor lives a secret life all around us.
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Metafora živi život u tajnosti, svuda oko nas.
00:19
We utter about six metaphors a minute.
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Izgovaramo oko šest metafora u minuti.
00:23
Metaphorical thinking is essential
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Metaforičko razmišljanje je ključno za
00:25
to how we understand ourselves and others,
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razumijevanje nas samih, i drugih;
00:28
how we communicate, learn, discover
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kako komuniciramo, učimo, otkrivamo,
00:31
and invent.
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pronalazimo.
00:33
But metaphor is a way of thought before it is a way with words.
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Ali metafora je način mišljenja, više nego način s riječima.
00:38
Now, to assist me in explaining this,
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Kako bih ovo mogao objasniti,
00:41
I've enlisted the help of one of our greatest philosophers,
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u pomoć sam pozvao jednog od najvećih filozofa,
00:44
the reigning king of the metaphorians,
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vladajućeg kralja među metaforičarima,
00:48
a man whose contributions to the field
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čovjeka čiji je doprinos ovom polju
00:50
are so great that he himself
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toliki da je on sam
00:53
has become a metaphor.
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postao metafora.
00:55
I am, of course, referring to none other
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Ne mislim ni koga drugoga, do
00:59
than Elvis Presley.
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Elvisa Presleya.
01:01
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:02
Now, "All Shook Up" is a great love song.
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Dakle, ''All Shook Up'' je sjajna ljubavna pjesma.
01:05
It's also a great example of how
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Ali je i primjer kako mi,
01:07
whenever we deal with anything abstract --
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kada god se bavimo apstraktnim
01:09
ideas, emotions, feelings, concepts, thoughts --
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idejama, emocijama, osjećajima, konceptima, mislima,
01:13
we inevitably resort to metaphor.
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neizbježno pribjegavamo metafori.
01:15
In "All Shook Up," a touch is not a touch, but a chill.
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U ''All Shook Up'', dodir nije dodir nego hladnoća.
01:20
Lips are not lips, but volcanoes.
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Usne nisu usne, nego vulkani.
01:23
She is not she, but a buttercup.
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Ona nije ona, nego ljutić (cvijet).
01:26
And love is not love, but being all shook up.
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Ni ljubav nije ljubav, nego stanje potresa (''All Shook Up'')
01:31
In this, Elvis is following Aristotle's classic definition of metaphor
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Ovdje se Elvis koristi klasičnom Aristotelovom definicijom metafore -
01:35
as the process of giving the thing
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postupak davanja stvari imena
01:38
a name that belongs to something else.
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koje pripada nečemu drugom.
01:41
This is the mathematics of metaphor.
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Ovo je matematika metafore.
01:44
And fortunately it's very simple.
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I na sreću je veoma jednostavna.
01:46
X equals Y.
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X = Y.
01:48
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
01:51
This formula works wherever metaphor is present.
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Ovu formulu nalazimo gdje god je metafora prisutna.
01:54
Elvis uses it, but so does Shakespeare
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Elvis je koristi, ali i Šekspir
01:57
in this famous line from "Romeo and Juliet:"
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u ovom poznatom stihu iz ''Romea i Julije'',
01:59
Juliet is the sun.
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Julija je sunce.
02:02
Now, here, Shakespeare gives the thing, Juliet,
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Šekspir stvari, Juliji, daje
02:06
a name that belongs to something else, the sun.
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ime koje pripada nečemu drugom - suncu.
02:11
But whenever we give a thing a name that belongs to something else,
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Ali kada god stvari dajemo ime koje pripada nečemu drugom,
02:14
we give it a whole network of analogies too.
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u isto vrijeme joj dajemo čitavu mrežu analogija.
02:17
We mix and match what we know about the metaphor's source,
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Mješamo i sastavljamo ono što znamo o izvoru metafore,
02:20
in this case the sun,
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u ovom slučaju suncu,
02:22
with what we know about its target, Juliet.
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s onim što znamo o njenom cilju, Juliji.
02:25
And metaphor gives us a much more vivid understanding of Juliet
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Metafora nam daje jasniju sliku Julije
02:28
than if Shakespeare had literally described what she looks like.
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nego da je Šekspir doslovno opisao njen izgled.
02:33
So, how do we make and understand metaphors?
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Dakle, kako pravimo i razumijevamo metafore?
02:35
This might look familiar.
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Ovo vam se može činiti poznatim.
02:37
The first step is pattern recognition.
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Prvi korak je raspoznavanje oblika.
02:39
Look at this image. What do you see?
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Pogledajte ovu sliku. Šta vidite?
02:42
Three wayward Pac-Men,
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Tri tvrdoglava Pacmana,
02:44
and three pointy brackets are actually present.
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i tri izlomljene zagrade
02:47
What we see, however,
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Ono šta ustvari vidimo
02:49
are two overlapping triangles.
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su dva trougla koji se preklapaju.
02:51
Metaphor is not just the detection of patterns;
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Metafora nije samo pronalazak oblika;
02:54
it is the creation of patterns.
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ona je i kreacija oblika.
02:56
Second step, conceptual synesthesia.
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Drugi korak je Konceptualna sinestezija.
02:59
Now, synesthesia is the experience of a stimulus in once sense organ
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Sinestezija se pojavljuje kada jedan podražaj
03:04
in another sense organ as well,
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doživljavamo u dva različita osjetila,
03:06
such as colored hearing.
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kao što je ''obojeno slušanje''.
03:08
People with colored hearing
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Ljudi s obojenim slušanjem
03:10
actually see colors when they hear the sounds
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ustvari vide boje kada čuju zvuk
03:13
of words or letters.
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riječi ili slova.
03:15
We all have synesthetic abilities.
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Svi mi imamo sinestetičke sposobnosti.
03:17
This is the Bouba/Kiki test.
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Ovo je Buba/Kiki test.
03:20
What you have to do is identify which of these shapes
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Što morate uraditi jeste odrediti koji od ovih oblika
03:22
is called Bouba, and which is called Kiki.
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se zove Buba, a koji Kiki.
03:26
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
03:27
If you are like 98 percent of other people,
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Ako ste kao i 98% ostalih ljudi,
03:29
you will identify the round, amoeboid shape as Bouba,
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poistovijetit ćete okrugli oblik, nalik amebi, kao Buba,
03:33
and the sharp, spiky one as Kiki.
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a oštri, šiljati kao Kiki.
03:36
Can we do a quick show of hands?
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Možemo li to potvrditi podizanjem ruku?
03:38
Does that correspond?
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Podudara li se ovo?
03:40
Okay, I think 99.9 would about cover it.
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U redu, mislim da smo dobili 99,9%.
03:44
Why do we do that?
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Zašto ovako reagujemo?
03:46
Because we instinctively find, or create,
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Jer instinktivno nađemo, ili kreiramo,
03:50
a pattern between the round shape
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vezu između okruglog oblika
03:52
and the round sound of Bouba,
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i okruglog zvuka kod Buba,
03:55
and the spiky shape and the spiky sound of Kiki.
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i šiljatog oblika, i šiljatog zvuka kod Kiki.
04:00
And many of the metaphors we use everyday are synesthetic.
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I mnoge od metafora koje koristimo svakodnevno su sinestetičke.
04:04
Silence is sweet.
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Tišina je slatka.
04:06
Neckties are loud.
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Boje kravate su prodorne.
04:08
Sexually attractive people are hot.
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Seksualno privlačne osobe su vatrene.
04:11
Sexually unattractive people leave us cold.
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Seksualno neprivlačne osobe nas ostavljaju hladnima.
04:14
Metaphor creates a kind of conceptual synesthesia,
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Metafora kreira jednu vrstu konceptualne sinestezije
04:17
in which we understand one concept
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u kojoj jedan koncept
04:19
in the context of another.
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razumijemo u kontekstu drugog.
04:22
Third step is cognitive dissonance.
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Treći stepen je kognitivna disonanca (nesklad).
04:24
This is the Stroop test.
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Ovo je Stroopov test.
04:26
What you need to do here is identify
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Ovdje morate odrediti,
04:28
as quickly as possible
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što je brže moguće,
04:30
the color of the ink in which these words are printed.
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boju kojom su ove riječi ispisane.
04:33
You can take the test now.
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Možete pokušati sada.
04:37
If you're like most people, you will experience
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Ako ste poput većine ljudi, doživjećete
04:39
a moment of cognitive dissonance
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trenutak kognitivne disonance
04:41
when the name of the color
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kada je ime boje
04:44
is printed in a differently colored ink.
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napisano drugom bojom.
04:46
The test shows that we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words
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Test pokazuje da ne možemo zanemariti doslovno značenje riječi
04:49
even when the literal meaning gives the wrong answer.
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čak i kada doslovno značenje daje pogrešan odgovor.
04:52
Stroop tests have been done with metaphor as well.
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Stroopov test se sprovodio i sa metaforom.
04:54
The participants had to identify, as quickly as possible,
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Učesnici su morali identifikovati, što je brže moguće,
04:58
the literally false sentences.
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doslovno netačne rečenice.
05:00
They took longer to reject metaphors as false
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Duže im je trebalo da proglase metafore netačnim
05:03
than they did to reject literally false sentences.
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nego da odbace doslovno netačne rečenice.
05:06
Why? Because we cannot ignore
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Zašto? Jer ne možemo zanemariti
05:09
the metaphorical meaning of words either.
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ni metaforičko značenje riječi.
05:12
One of the sentences was, "Some jobs are jails."
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Jedna od rečenica je bila, ''Neki poslovi su zatvori''.
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Now, unless you're a prison guard,
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Osim ako ste čuvar u zatvoru
05:18
the sentence "Some jobs are jails" is literally false.
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ova rečenica ''Neki poslovi su zatvori'' je doslovno netačna.
05:21
Sadly, it's metaphorically true.
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Nažalost, ona je metaforički tačna.
05:24
And the metaphorical truth interferes with our ability
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Metaforička istina se sukobljava s našom mogućnosti
05:27
to identify it as literally false.
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da je identifikujemo kao netačnu.
05:29
Metaphor matters because
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Metafora je važna jer
05:31
it's around us every day, all the time.
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je svakodnevno oko nas, svo vrijeme.
05:34
Metaphor matters because it creates expectations.
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Metafora je važna jer kreira očekivanja.
05:37
Pay careful attention the next time you read the financial news.
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Dobro pazite kada sljedeći put budete čitali finansijske novosti.
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Agent metaphors describe price movements
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Agent metafore opisuju kretanje cijena
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as the deliberate action of a living thing,
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kao svjesnu aktivnost žive stvari,
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as in, "The NASDAQ climbed higher."
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kao npr., ''NASDAQ je porastao''.
05:49
Object metaphors describe price movements
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Objekt metafore opisuju kretanje cijena
05:52
as non-living things,
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kao nežive stvari, kao npr.,
05:54
as in, "The Dow fell like a brick."
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''Indeks njujorške berze je pao poput cigle''.
05:57
Researchers asked a group of people
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Istraživači su pitali skupinu ljudi
05:59
to read a clutch of market commentaries,
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da pročitaju nekolicinu komentara tržišta
06:01
and then predict the next day's price trend.
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te da predvide kretanje cijena za sljedeći dan.
06:04
Those exposed to agent metaphors
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Oni izloženi agent metaforama
06:06
had higher expectations that price trends would continue.
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su imali veća očekivanja da će se kretanje cijena nastaviti.
06:09
And they had those expectations because
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A ta očekivanja su imali jer
06:11
agent metaphors imply the deliberate action
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agent metafore ukazuju na svjesno djelovanje
06:14
of a living thing pursuing a goal.
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žive stvari da ostvari neki cilj.
06:17
If, for example, house prices
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Ako se, na primjer, cijene kuća
06:19
are routinely described as climbing and climbing,
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stalno opisuju kao da se penju i penju,
06:22
higher and higher, people might naturally assume
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sve više i više, prirodno je za podrazumjeti
06:24
that that rise is unstoppable.
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da je taj rast nezaustavan.
06:26
They may feel confident, say,
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Čitaoci se mogu osjećati sigurnim u, npr.,
06:28
in taking out mortgages they really can't afford.
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uzimanju zaloga koje sebi u stvarnosti ne mogu priuštiti.
06:31
That's a hypothetical example of course.
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Ovo je naravno hipotetički primjer.
06:34
But this is how metaphor misleads.
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Ali ovo je način na koji nas metafora obmanjuje.
06:38
Metaphor also matters because it influences decisions
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Metafora je još važna jer utječe na odluke
06:41
by activating analogies.
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aktiviranjem analogija.
06:44
A group of students was told that a small democratic country
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Grupi studenata je rečeno da je mala demokratska država
06:46
had been invaded and had asked the U.S. for help.
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napadnuta i da je zatražila pomoć SAD-a,
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And they had to make a decision.
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te su morali donijeti odluku.
06:51
What should they do?
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Šta su trebali uraditi?
06:53
Intervene, appeal to the U.N., or do nothing?
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Umješati se, obratiti se UN-u, ili ne djelovati?
06:56
They were each then given one of three
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Svakome od njih je dat jedan od tri
06:58
descriptions of this hypothetical crisis.
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opisa ove hipotetičke krize,
07:00
Each of which was designed to trigger
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od kojih je svaki trebao proizvesti
07:03
a different historical analogy:
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različitu historijsku analogiju:
07:05
World War II, Vietnam,
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Drugi svjetski rat, Vietnamski rat,
07:07
and the third was historically neutral.
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dok je treća bila historijski neutralna.
07:10
Those exposed to the World War II scenario
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Oni izloženi scenariju Drugog svjetskog rata
07:12
made more interventionist recommendations
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su više predlagali opciju uplitanja
07:14
than the others.
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nego li su to ostali.
07:16
Just as we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words,
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Jednako kao što ne možemo zanemariti doslovno značenje riječi,
07:19
we cannot ignore the analogies
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ne možemo zanemariti ni analogije
07:21
that are triggered by metaphor.
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koje su proizvedene metaforom.
07:25
Metaphor matters because it opens the door to discovery.
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Metafora je važna jer otvara vrata otkrivanja.
07:28
Whenever we solve a problem, or make a discovery,
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Kada god riješimo problem ili nešto otkrijemo,
07:31
we compare what we know with what we don't know.
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poređujemo ono šta znamo s onim što ne znamo.
07:34
And the only way to find out about the latter
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A jedini način da nešto saznamo o drugopomenutom
07:36
is to investigate the ways it might be like the former.
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je istraživanje načina na koje bi mogla biti slična prvopomenutoj
07:40
Einstein described his scientific method as combinatory play.
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Ajnštajn je opisao svoj naučni metod kao kombinatorna igra.
07:44
He famously used thought experiments,
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Uspješno je koristio eksperimente misli
07:46
which are essentially elaborate analogies,
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koji su u stvarnosti bili razrađene analogije,
07:49
to come up with some of his greatest discoveries.
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kako bi došao do jedne od svojih najvećih otkrića.
07:52
By bringing together what we know
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Spajanjem onoga što znamo
07:54
and what we don't know through analogy,
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s onim što ne znamo kroz analogiju,
07:56
metaphorical thinking strikes the spark
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metaforičko razmišljanje pokreće iskru
07:58
that ignites discovery.
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koja pali otkriće.
08:02
Now metaphor is ubiquitous, yet it's hidden.
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Iako je metafora svugdje prisutna, još je skrivena.
08:06
But you just have to look at the words around you
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Ali jednostavno morate posmatrati riječi oko Vas
08:09
and you'll find it.
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i naći ćete je.
08:11
Ralph Waldo Emerson described language
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Ralf Waldo Emerson je jezik opisao kao
08:13
as "fossil poetry."
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''fosilnu poeziju''.
08:15
But before it was fossil poetry
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Ali, prije nego je postao fosilna poezija
08:17
language was fossil metaphor.
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jezik je bio fosilna metafora.
08:20
And these fossils still breathe.
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Ali ovi fosili još uvijek dišu.
08:23
Take the three most famous words in all of Western philosophy:
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Uzmite tri najpoznatije izreke cijele Zapadne filozofije:
08:28
"Cogito ergo sum."
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''Cogito ergo sum''.
08:30
That's routinely translated as, "I think, therefore I am."
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Uobičajeno je prevođeno kao ''Mislim, dakle, postojim''.
08:34
But there is a better translation.
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Ali postoji bolji prevod.
08:36
The Latin word "cogito"
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Latinska riječ ''cogito''
08:38
is derived from the prefix "co," meaning "together,"
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je izvedena iz prefiksa ''co'', sa značenjem ''zajedno'',
08:41
and the verb "agitare," meaning "to shake."
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i glagola ''agitare'', sa značenjem ''tresti''.
08:44
So, the original meaning of "cogito"
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Tako da ''cogito'' zapravo znači
08:47
is to shake together.
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stresanje.
08:49
And the proper translation of "cogito ergo sum"
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Te ''cogito ergo sum'' zapravo znači
08:52
is "I shake things up, therefore I am."
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''Tresem stvari, dakle, postojim''.
08:56
(Laughter)
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(Smijeh)
08:58
Metaphor shakes things up,
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Metafora potresa stvari,
09:00
giving us everything from Shakespeare to scientific discovery in the process.
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dajući nam sve od Šekspira do naučnih otkrića u razvoju.
09:05
The mind is a plastic snow dome,
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Um je plastična sniježna kupola,
09:08
the most beautiful, most interesting,
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najljepša, najinteresantnija,
09:10
and most itself, when, as Elvis put it,
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i najispravnija, kada je, kao što je Elvis rekao,
09:13
it's all shook up.
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sve potreseno.
09:15
And metaphor keeps the mind shaking,
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A metafora um održava u potresu,
09:17
rattling and rolling, long after Elvis has left the building.
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kleptavim i u pokretu, dugo nako što nas je Elvis napustio.
09:20
Thank you very much.
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Hvala Vam.
09:22
(Applause)
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(Aplauz)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James Geary - AphoristLost jobs, wayward lovers, wars and famine -- come to think of it, just about any of life's curveballs -- there's an aphorism for it, and James Geary's got it.
Why you should listen
One of a handful of the world's professional aphorists, James Geary has successfully fused early creative endeavors in performance art, poetry and juggling with his childhood fascination with the "Quotable Quotes" column in Reader's Digest. His books Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists and the bestselling The World in a Phrase are invaluable journeys through the often-ignored art of the witty (and memorably brief) summation.
His next book is about the secret life of metaphors, and how metaphorical thinking drives invention and creativity. Geary is a former writer for Time Europe and is now an editor for Ode magazine, a print and online publication devoted to optimism and positive news.
James Geary | Speaker | TED.com