This book opens up a new route to the study of knowledge dynamics and the sociology of knowledge. The focus is on the role of metaphors as powerful catalysts, and the book dissects their role in the construction of theories of knowledge. It is of vital interest to social and cognitive scientists alike.

Maasen, Sabine; Weingart, Peter

Metaphors and the dynamics of knowledge: preliminary thoughts. 1. Analysing knowledge dynamics, in general, and the role of metaphors, in particular 2. Metaphors as targets and tools in the analysis of knowledge dynamics 3. 'Struggle for existence': selection, retention and extinction of a metaphor 4. Of paradigms, shifts, and changes - the Kuhnian metaphor 5. The order of meaning: the career of chaos as a metaphor 6. Metaphors and the dynamics of knowledge