Introduction

Emmanuel SANDER

IDEA, Université de Genève, Switzerland

The postulate of educability, a fundamental principle in educational sciences, legitimizes the very existence of this field. It confers upon each individual a capacity to learn, progress and increase their autonomy and well-being. The idea that a person is immutable is therefore rejected in favor of a view that sees humans as constantly transforming and being transformed by their activities in the world and with their peers. This dynamic vision, inherent in any educational approach and closely tied to the role of metaphor in human thought, sets the direction for this book. Indeed, if we trace the etymology of the word, a metaphor is transformative by its very nature, because it "carries beyond": from µeta (meta) "beyond" and fe?? (pherô) "carry"1. As Fontanier (1977) describes metaphor, "we transfer, so to speak, a word from an idea to which it is assigned, to a different idea, whose resemblance to the first idea is appropriately highlighted by this word" (p. 261). Insofar as any educational approach is based on transformation and every use of metaphor triggers transfer, the synergy is clear: by initiating transfer, metaphor contributes to the transformation of the human being.

Many questions then arise about metaphors: the nature of the transfer they enable, their alignment with educational goals, the possibility of orienting them, understanding their desirable effects and anticipating potential drawbacks. Another key issue, central to education, is their practical application - how metaphors can be effectively used in teaching.

I.1. Analogy, metaphor's great weapon

Let us first look at the nature of the transfers initiated by metaphor. These shifts are far from random - metaphors do not lead just anywhere. Rather, they follow a well-defined mechanism: an "analogical relationship", already noted by Aristotle (1967) in his Poetics, which "makes it possible to understand a situation [the target] in terms of a different situation [the source]" (Holyoak and Thagard 1995, p. 5). Fontanier's previously mentioned quote further explains this fundamental property of metaphor, describing how a word transfers an idea to which it is associated to another idea, emphasizing their shared resemblance.

For example, the metaphor of the goldsmith applied to a chef, as in the expression THIS COOK IS A GOLDSMITH2, transfers the idea associated with the word goldsmith to a similar idea applicable to a chef. The goal here is to convey a sense of precision, meticulousness, as well as aesthetics and even the artistic skills of the chef. We should note that this transfer is not symmetrical. A clear distinction must be made between the source, which provides the interpretative framework, and the target, which is the object of the transfer conveyed by the source (Glucksberg and Keysar 1990). This is why the metaphors MY BUTCHER (TARGET) IS A SURGEON (SOURCE) and MY SURGEON (TARGET) IS A BUTCHER (SOURCE) communicate radically different ideas. One attributes the surgeon's precision and expertise to a butcher, while the other projects the butcher's supposed brutality and lack of precision onto a surgeon. In all cases, analogy is an inherent part of metaphor. It is explicitly expressed in formulations such as THIS COOK (TARGET) IS A GOLDSMITH (SOURCE). It is also found in so-called conceptual metaphors, from which many common expressions are derived. For instance, the metaphor DEBATING (TARGET) IS COMBATTING (SOURCE) leads to depicting a debater as offensive or to be taking refuge behind an argument, or sticking to their guns.

The interweaving of analogy and metaphor reinforces the relevance of exploring in depth the influence of metaphors in education and leveraging them for intervention purposes. Indeed, research has shown that analogies are ubiquitous in human cognition, shaping everything from basic cognitive processes - like choosing a word in daily conversation - to complex achievements such as scientific discoveries and artistic creations (Gentner et al. 2001; Gentner and Maravilla 2018). These studies emphasize how individuals rely on past experiences to navigate the present. Analogy therefore has a major adaptive value. By leveraging similarity, it allows us to draw upon the wealth of the past at low cognitive cost. By mobilizing analogy, metaphor thus serves as a privileged gateway to this process of capitalizing on experience by connecting the new with the familiar.

I.2. Metaphoric seduction: apparent precision under cover of coherence

More than the accuracy of a metaphor, it is its fruitfulness that deserves attention. To borrow from statistician George Box's famous quote - "all models are wrong, but some are useful" (1987, p. 424) - one could similarly argue that the usefulness of a metaphor outweighs any claim to absolute, and ultimately illusory, truth. Whether the teacher be conceived as a CAPTAIN, a GARDENER, a MUSE, a SCULPTOR or some other figure, what matters is the nature of the analogical transfer each metaphor evokes. Depending on the preferred metaphor, the teacher may thus guide, cultivate, inspire or shape their students.

Moreover, metaphor is, in a way, effortless - or at least, it can be created with little cost. After all, nothing prevents one from pairing two terms and stating their truth with conviction: "Life is like a bicycle: in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving"3. However, simply linking a source and a target does not guarantee the accuracy of the statement. Like proverbs, metaphors offer interpretative frameworks that can sometimes contradict one another: "The habit does not the monk make", but "there is no smoke without fire"; "Like father like son", but "a miserly father makes a prodigal son"; "It is better to be alone than in bad company", but "the more, the merrier". What seems like a contradiction in these proverbs reflects how each one directs attention to a different aspect of a situation. Paradoxically, opposing statements can both be useful: "The habit does not the monk make" is exhorting us to be wary of appearances, while "There is no smoke without fire" invites us to dig deeper to find out more. Both perspectives can be valuable. The fecundity of a metaphor lies in the inferences it generates, each guiding thought in a different direction. Just as the proverb "like father like son" does not lead to the same expectations as "a miserly father makes a prodigal son", the metaphor of the CAPTAIN and GARDENER have different orientations. Ultimately, every metaphor creates a sense of coherence by linking the target and the source. However, its relevance is tested against the recipient's experience and the contrast between what the metaphor implies and what is actually observed.

I.3. Pedagogical uses of metaphor

Historically, logical reasoning has long been regarded as the prerogative of human thinking and as the dividing line from the modes of thinking of other species of animal. This belief reinforced a Cartesian perspective, leading to the idea that education should be built around logical reasoning. But since much research has debunked the notion that humans are uniquely defined by logical thinking (Georges 1997), the door is now open to pedagogical paths beyond those advocating logic as the preferred direction.

As such, metaphor, which frees thought from the constraints of logic, gains renewed pedagogical legitimacy. It can convey ideas or challenge biases with striking immediacy, offering teachers an accessible and powerful range of resources in the classroom. Once adherence to the laws of logic is no longer treated as an absolute, the value of metaphor thus appears in at least two ways. First, it gives teachers insight into the hidden workings of students' minds - and their own - both rooted in unconscious metaphors. Second, rather than relying on logical reasoning, which may not always be accessible or effective, metaphors help to shift students' thinking by tapping into their potentially infinite pool of prior knowledge. This prior knowledge then serves as a foundation for understanding new situations through the richness of accumulated experience.

Thus, despite all the missteps to which it can lead, metaphor holds several undeniable virtues from an educational perspective. First, the virtue of serving as a vehicle, making transfer possible, and then connecting to a specific situation the wealth of past experiences and accumulated knowledge built throughout an individual's life. An individual's entire past becomes a resource for interpreting their present through the diversity of concepts they have developed. Moreover, a metaphor generates a transformative dynamic akin to a form of perpetual motion or a virtuous cycle: the situations it transforms become, in turn, transformative, and can thus be useful for new situations that arise from the enrichment initiated by the metaphor.

I.4. Organization of the book

This book is structured into seven chapters. The first three chapters focus on broad theoretical issues: the first...