Epistemology andthe metaphor of the book

Abstract

This paper explores how metaphors drawing on the written forms of science have guided epistemological reflection. After a brief description of how cognitive metaphors work and why the written forms of science serve as natural sources of metaphor, it traces the influence of the most important of these metaphors, the metaphor of the book. I argue that this metaphor is at least partially responsible forthe following assumptions andemphases in epistemology: (1) that justification has a linear structure, (2) that mistakes should rather be prevented than corrected, (3) that pluralism does not have an important role, and (4) that theories as abstract structures are readily available. The final part of the paper contains some suggestions as to how the metaphor of the hypertext may help us to a useful perspective on the issues of coherence, discovery, and the search for information.