Tag Archives: metaphor

Capital as metaphor

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Eddie Playfair

The economy of ideas #4 We talk about social capital, cultural capital, creative capital, even ‘emotional capital’. It seems that capital can stand in for almost every human capacity. Why is this? Given its role as a real currency, it’s … Continue reading →

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Primo Levi on work and education

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Eddie Playfair

In his wonderful La chiave a stella (The Wrench) published in 1978, Primo Levi shares with us an exchange of stories told by Faussone, the itinerant Piedmontese rigger, and a narrator who, like Levi himself, is an industrial chemist at the point … Continue reading →

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Education without metaphors?

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

We love metaphors don’t we? They can help us to express new or complex ideas in term of more familiar ones. They can add richness and drama to our explanations. Good metaphors can help us to understand, organise and interpret … Continue reading →

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Homology, analogy and metaphor. Science in Society 5.

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Eddie Playfair

Reading ‘Much scientific argument and hypothesis-making proceeds through the use of analogy and metaphor’. Steven Rose. To help us understand a scientific process we often liken it to something we’re already familiar with. We use homology, analogy and metaphor. A … Continue reading →

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