Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Sartre's Philosophy: a Cognitive Approach to Existentialism

This dissertation deals with Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Experientialist philosophy by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson and Existentialist philosophy by Jean-Paul Sartre. In the first chapter we study Lakoff and Johnson?s works on Metaphor (1980, 1999) and we also analyse the most important revisions, extensions and criticisms related to the theory. In the second chapter we make a comparison between experientialism and existentialism by means of the concept of imagination ? a key component of both theories. In the third and last chapter we examine the central metaphors that are revealed in the most important book of existentialism: Jean-Paul Sartre's (1943a) L'être et el Néant. As if it were another chapter in Lakoff & Johnson (1999) we will pay attention to this very important book of Sartre's in order to discover which metaphors sustain his system. The analysis will be based on Lakoff & Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Lakoff & Johnson's (1999) key idea that metaphor is an essential skill that allows us to build philosophical systems. Finally, in a concluding section we will summarize the key proposals defended throughout this work.