Keirkegaard's Metaphors offers an explaination of a more accessible way to understand Kierkegarrd by analyzing his persistent use of metaphors.

Research on metaphor has been dominated by Aristotelian questions of processes in metaphor understanding. Although this area is important, it leaves unasked Platonic questions of how structures of the mind affect such processes. Moreover, there has been relatively little work on how metaphors affect human behavior. Although there are numerous postdictive or speculative accounts of the power of metaphors to affect human behavior in particular areas, such as clinical or political arenas, empirical verification of these accounts has been sparse. To fill this void, the editors have compiled this work dedicated to empirical examination of how metaphors affect human behavior and understanding. The book is divided into four sections: metaphor and pragmatics, clinical uses of metaphor, metaphor and politics, and other applications of metaphor. Chapters contained within these sections attempt to merge Aristotelian questions with Platonic ones.

This book re-conceptualizes teaching through an engagement with Jean-Paul Sartre’s early existentialist thought. Against the grain of teacher accountability, it turns to the demanding account of being human in Sartre’s thought, on the basis of which an alternative account of teaching can be developed. It builds upon Sartre’s key concepts related to the self, freedom, bad faith, and the Other, such that they might open up original ways of thinking about the practices of teaching. Indeed, given the everyday complexities that characterize teaching, as well as the vulnerabilities and uncertainty that it so often involves, this book ultimately aims to create a space in which to reimagine forms of accounting that move from technicist ways of thinking to existential sensitivity in relation to one’s practice as a teacher.

One of the elements that many readers admire in Kierkegaard’s skill as a writer is his ability to create different voices and perspectives in his works. Instead of unilaterally presenting clear-cut doctrines and theses, he confronts the reader with a range of personalities and figures who all espouse different views. One important aspect of this play of perspectives is Kierkegaard’s controversial use of pseudonyms. The present volume is dedicated to exploring the different pseudonyms and authorial voices in Kierkegaard’s writing. The articles featured here try to explore each pseudonymous author as a literary figure and to explain what kind of a person is at issue in each of the pseudonymous works. The hope is that by taking seriously each of these figures as individuals, we will be able to gain new insights into the texts which they are ostensibly responsible for.

An examination of metaphor in poetry as a microcosm of the human imagination—a way to understand the mechanisms of creativity. In The Spider's Thread, Keith Holyoak looks at metaphor as a microcosm of the creative imagination. Holyoak, a psychologist and poet, draws on the perspectives of thinkers from the humanities—poets, philosophers, and critics—and from the sciences—psychologists, neuroscientists, linguists, and computer scientists. He begins each chapter with a poem—by poets including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Theodore Roethke, Du Fu, William Butler Yeats, and Pablo Neruda—and then widens the discussion to broader notions of metaphor and mind. Holyoak uses Whitman's poem “A Noiseless Patient Spider” to illustrate the process of interpreting a poem, and explains the relevance of two psychological mechanisms, analogy and conceptual combination, to metaphor. He outlines ideas first sketched by Coleridge—who called poetry “the best words in their best order”—and links them to modern research on the interplay between cognition and emotion, controlled and associative thinking, memory and creativity. Building on Emily Dickinson's declaration “the brain is wider than the sky,” Holyoak suggests that the control and default networks in the brain may combine to support creativity. He also considers, among other things, the interplay of sound and meaning in poetry; symbolism in the work of Yeats, Jung, and others; indirect communication in poems; the mixture of active and passive processes in creativity; and whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity. Guided by Holyoak, we can begin to trace the outlines of creativity through the mechanisms of metaphor.

Either/Or is Kierkegaard's first major work and arguably his most virtuosic. It introduces many of the most important philosophical themes that define the rest of his authorship and showcases - through its several pseudonyms and genres - Kierkegaard's prodigious literary scope. In this Critical Guide, a diverse group of scholars strike new ground in our understanding of both this work, and Kierkegaard's authorship as a whole. Their essays highlight the text's philosophical range, with substantial discussions of issues in aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, phenomenology, and philosophy of religion. The volume will be essential reading for any person seeking to deepen their understanding of Either/Or and Kierkegaard's work more generally.

Teachers are not automatons. An educator’s personal values, concerns, and aspirations cannot be cleaved from one’s professional life without impacting the quality and relevance of the teaching experience. This book examines spaces where the personal and professional intersect, thereby deepening our understanding of the nuances and complexities of a teacher’s work. It draws readers into places of vulnerability—moments of grieving. As a teacher’s curriculum—as a curriculum of life—grief has much to teach about sympathy, compassion, and resilience. Educational philosophy, literary analysis, and reflective practice are used to explore ways grief can help us better ascertain the scope and depth of the educators we are and have the potential to become. Pieces of literature used include works by Pat Conroy, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Rabindranath Tagore, Virgil, Franz Wedekind, and Virginia Woolf. Also included are ideas from a diverse set of educational philosophers, social and cultural commentators, poets, and more. Chapters conclude with "Topics for Reflection" for further individual and/or collective reflection and discourse. Educators at all stages of their careers will benefit from this study that demonstrates the impact personal grieving can have on remembering, recovering, and reidentifying with one’s mission and vision. As a resource for pre-service or veteran teachers, the text celebrates the power of introspection to transform our work, our lives, and the lives of our students. It is equally relevant for parents, coaches, mentors, and anyone who takes on the kinds of teacher roles that impact, nourish, and inspire the lives of others. See inside the book.

Alison Denham examines the parallels between moral and metaphorical discourse, and the ways in which our engagement with literary art, and metaphorical discourse in particular, informs our moral beliefs.

Narrative or metaphor therapy utilizes the patient's own memories and anecdotes as a method for tapping into and confronting the many layers of the complex inner self. The book is particularly innovative in the using narrative or metaphor therapy with adults suffering from severe mental illness. Unlike other books on the use of narrative therapy, this book focuses on the use of pre-scripted narratives that can be used with individuals to examine their personal situations, as well as techniques to guide individuals in the development of their own narratives. A comprehensive and detailed guidebook for narrative therapists, this book addresses various experiential therapeutic interventions.

This collection of essays extends the conversation on communication ethics and crisis communication to offer practical wisdom for meeting the challenges of a complex and ever-changing world. In multiple contexts ranging from the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and family to the political and public, moments of crisis call us to respond from within particular standpoints that shape our understanding and our response to crisis as we grapple with contested notions of "the good" in our shared life together. With no agreed-upon set of absolutes to guide us, this moment calls us to learn from difference as we seek resources to continue the human conversation as we engage the unexpected. This collection of essays invites multiple epistemological and methodological standpoints to consider alternative ways of thinking about communication ethics and crisis.