"The public situations that I have mentioned give rise to corresponding mental processes which are modeled on the public procedures, as a shadowy movement on a ceiling is modeled on an original physical movement on the floor."
— Hampshire, Stuart (1914-2004)
Work Title
Place of Publication
Princeton
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Date
2000
Metaphor
"The public situations that I have mentioned give rise to corresponding mental processes which are modeled on the public procedures, as a shadowy movement on a ceiling is modeled on an original physical movement on the floor."
Metaphor in Context
Discussions in the inner forum of an individual mind naturally duplicate in form and structure the public adversarial discussions. "Naturally," because advocates, judges, and diplomats rehearse what they are to say before they step onto the public stage. Anyone who participates in a cabinet discussion, in a law court, in a diplomatic negotiation, acquires the habit of preparing for rebuttals by opponents. He acquires the habit of balanced adversary thinking. The public situations that I have mentioned give rise to corresponding mental processes which are modeled on the public procedures, as a shadowy movement on a ceiling is modeled on an original physical movement on the floor. Moral conflicts are part of every person's experience. In the ever-recurring cases of conflict of principles, adversary argument and then a kind of inner judicial discretion and adjudication are called for.
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Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Stuart Hampshire, Justice is Conflict (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000).
Date of Entry
04/17/2014
