摘要
语言学家Lakoff和Johnson在《我们赖以生存的隐喻》中一反隐喻理论的传统观点，认为隐喻不仅仅是语言修辞手段，而且也是一种思维方式。语言能反映人们的概念体系。
作者在书中提出“隐喻”（metaphor）不仅仅指隐喻的语言形式（metaphorical expression）, 而且指人们思维和行为的方式—概念隐喻（conceptual metaphor）。在日常生活中，人们往往参照他们熟知的，有形的，具体的概念来认识、思维、经历、对待无形的、难以定义的概念，形成了一个不同概念之间相互关联的认知方式。
语言中的隐喻表达方式与概念隐喻是密切相连的，思维与语言都具有系统性，它表现在两个方面：其一，在同一概念隐喻下构成以一个概念谈论另一概念的系统的方式。其二，不同的概念隐喻具有统一性。同一本体可能有不同的隐喻，但他们之间不是矛盾的，而是统一的。每个概念隐喻强调和说明的方面不同，但其目的是相同的，使人们以不同的方式理解和认识本体的全貌。对此，Lakoff和Johnson提出entailment（指一个隐喻所引人联想到的关系和概念）这个概念来解释隐喻的力量和丰富性。
本文依据Lakoff和Johnson的隐喻理论，对《艾科卡自传》中体现李·艾科卡商业思想的隐喻表达方式进行分类，抽象为5个概念隐喻。再对这五个概念隐喻进行分析：探索其可能的来源，在商业中的应用，对商业的主要含义，以及每个概念隐喻在商业应用中的利弊。
Contrary to the traditional view that metaphor is a figure of speech, linguists Lakoff and Johnson, in Metaphors We Live By, argue that metaphor is also a figure of thought and figure of speech is just a surface manifestation of such metaphorical figure of thought. They believe that language can reflect the conceptual system of its speakers.
Lakoff and Johnson thus speak of conceptual metaphor, suggesting that metaphor is a matter of understanding one thing in terms of another. The typical form is TARGET-DOMAIN IS SOURCE-DOMAIN, or alternatively, TARGET-DOMAIN AS SOURCE-DOMAIN. Lakoff and Johnson have coined the term metaphorical expression for the surface manifestations of conceptual metaphor.
Lakoff and Johnson also note how metaphor can be misleading through its ability to highlight some features of reality and hide others. Hence they present the idea of entailments of metaphors. It is the entailments of a metaphor—the relationships and concepts that the metaphor brings to mind—that determine its power and richness.
Following the theory of conceptual metaphor proposed by Lakoff and Johnson and based on research on the works of many business scholars, the thesis suggests five conceptual metaphors for business by categorizing the relevant metaphorical expressions in Iacocca-the autobiography of Lee Iacocca: BUSINESS IS A JOURNEY, BUSINESS IS A GAME, BUSINESS IS A WAR, BUSINESS IS AN ORGANISM, and BUSINESS IS A SOCIETY. Then the thesis explores their possible sources in art, literature, or philosophy in an attempt to prove the legitimacy of the conceptualization. After that the thesis develops the influence of each conceptual metaphor on business practice. Then the thesis focuses on their implications by exploring the key entailments of each conceptual metaphor and their strengths and weaknesses in business environment.
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