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A conceptual metaphor does for arguments what scaffolding does for buildings. | blogjou

Daniel S. Milo

Good Enough - The Tolerance for Mediocrity in Nature and Society

pp. 57-59
03 Oct 2023

A conceptual metaphor does for arguments what scaffolding does for buildings.


There is, in theory, nothing wrong with using an analogy in the course of arguing for natural selection. A conceptual metaphor does for an argument what scaffolding does for buildings. […]

Thus, it would be fair to say that breeding was not so much scaffolding as a cornerstone. Darwin never escaped the logic of the analogy, nor did he aim to, for he did not find it problematic. Natural selection was created in the image of artificial selection, and the former operated in the way of the latter. This analogy has haunted us ever since, provoking fantasies of natural selection as an agent endlessly optimizing species’ performance in the struggle for life.