Resumen

BALZA-GARCIA, Rafael. Scientific Abstraction and the Metaphoric Possibility Bachelard and the Epistemological Foundations of Metaphor. RF [online]. 2006, vol.24, n.53, pp.9-38. ISSN 0798-1171.

Starting from the Bachelardian ideas of abstraction and scientific rationalization, and from the proposal of Donald Davidson about the literal character of the metaphor, it will be tried to answer the question: Under what conditions of possibility a metaphorical image, within scientific thought, can work more as a simile or a comparison or as a symbolic structure capable of generating knowledge and perception? The aim of this article is to call attention to the epistemological implications of metaphor in scientific thought, and also, to its relation with the world of symbol and not with that of the sign.

Palabras clave : Metaphor; scientific abstraction; symbol; Bachelard; Davidson.