Visual metaphors and their epistemic value

This paper addresses two central issues. First, it develops a conception of visual metaphor that avoids the shortcomings of both overly broad and overly narrow accounts. It is argued that visual metaphors are visual objects intentionally designed to evoke mappings between two distinct domains. Second, building on this moderate conception, the paper examines the epistemic value of visual metaphors. It is claimed that visual metaphors can contribute to the understanding of a target by enabling cognitive control. Moreover, it will be delineated why engagement with visual metaphors can foster multiperspectival and, ultimately, more objective forms of understanding. In the final part of the paper, it is argued that visual metaphors can not only convey propositional contents but can also contribute to an indirect form of catachresis: they can provoke the construction of verbal metaphors, which, in turn, can fill semantic gaps in our natural languages.