Argumentative Functions of Metaphors: How can Metaphors Trigger Resistance?

This paper investigates what functions metaphors can have in argumentation and how they may provoke resistance. The pragma-dialectical theory and Steen’s (2008) 3D-model of metaphor are integrated to determine the possible uses of ‘deliberate’ metaphor in argumentation. Based on case studies, it is argued that deliberate metaphors can not only function as single analogy arguments, but also as complex argumentation consisting of both analogy and e.g. causal or symptomatic arguments, that each may counter resistance