THE HOUSE AS EPISTEMOLOGICAL METAPHOR

"Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the origins, structure, methods, and validity of knowledge. In order to theorize about the nature of knowledge, epistemologists have used numerous metaphors and analogies, from Plato's cave to Quine's web of belief." Paul Thagard and Craig Beam

http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/epistemological.html

I am proposing that The House is an epistemological metaphor suited to modern times, better suited than a cave, at least.

THE HOUSE

I had a vague notion that the "eco" in the word "ecology" stood for house. (Webster's Dictionary has ecology meaning habitat or environment.) Beyond or accompanying such undirected musings, I was looking to see if the term could help me toward a better understanding of "house" as a basic epistemological metaphor. An important way in which one sees the house is that it epitomizes ecology in the relationship between its parts.

- A house must have a logical relationship between its parts if it to stand up.

- A good roof can't preen itself about being such a good roof if has only rotten rafters to rest on. Neither can a spectacular floor over rotten joists.

- A governance system might function like a house. In Jamaica, we have a flat coast and a mountainous spine. What is the systematic relationship between these two, as between a roof and its rafters?

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2. Foundational Metaphors

The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) defines a foundation as "the solid ground or base (natural or built up) on which an edifice or other structure is erected". Many philosophers have sought a ground or base on which knowledge could be erected. To say that knowledge has or needs a foundation is to use a metaphor based on a systematic analogy between the development of knowledge and the construction of a building. Descartes (1984, vol. 2, p. 366) explicitly endorses this analogy: