Metaphors and knowledge organization: how do they communicate?

Abstract

Introduction; Since Johnson and Lakoff’s (1980) postulation that cognitive organization takes place via metaphors, researchers have been trying to understand how such organization could represent knowledge. Objective: To build a theoretical model of an information retrieval filter – which we call meta-filter. Methodology: The discursive productions of a research group combining beginner and experienced researchers were analyzed. The goal was to identify the metaphors they used to represent their research object and their knowledge field. Results: The analysis revealed the field’s ontological metaphor, that is, the one that guides all representations in the field, as Transport is a systemic network. Conclusions: To know the field’s ontological metaphor, and the subsequent other ones, when associated to Ranganathan’s (1967) classification canons, allowed us to build a theoretical model of an information retrieval filter that could provide greater information retrieval precision in huge databases such as the internet.