Andreas Musolff

This Element deals with the relationship between cognition, understood as the process of acquiring and developing knowledge, and diverse types of conspiracy theories, or short, 'CTs'. Section 1 lays the groundwork for the analysis by determining four components of narrative argumentative framing in CTs, of which the first three are constitutive for all CTs, with a fourth representing the 'optional' collective action-guiding “scenario” component. Section 2 exemplifies manifestations of these components by discussing contemporary and historical 'hoax' and 'asserting' CTs and 'empowering' CTs. Section 3 takes a cognitive-evolutionist and pragmatic view at the conditions for the 'success' of CT scenarios. In conclusion. Section 4 formulates lessons for countering the effects of socially detrimental CTs by deconstructing them and by obstructing their dissemination.

This Element deals with the relationship between cognition, understood as the process of acquiring and developing knowledge, and diverse types of conspiracy theories, or short, 'CTs'. Section 1 lays the groundwork for the analysis by determining four components of narrative argumentative framing in CTs, of which the first three are constitutive for all CTs, with a fourth representing the 'optional' collective action-guiding “scenario” component. Section 2 exemplifies manifestations of these components by discussing contemporary and historical 'hoax' and 'asserting' CTs and 'empowering' CTs. Section 3 takes a cognitive-evolutionist and pragmatic view at the conditions for the 'success' of CT scenarios. In conclusion. Section 4 formulates lessons for countering the effects of socially detrimental CTs by deconstructing them and by obstructing their dissemination.

This book presents the results of a large-scale experiment into interpretations of the metaphor “the Nation as a Body” among 1,800+ respondents from 30 linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In this first account of an empirical study of cross-cultural global metaphor interpretation of that scale, Musolff confirms that the meanings of metaphors are complex, culturally mediated and may differ for senders and recipients. The book provides a historical and cultural map of the traditions underlying differences in how the nation as a body – or, “the body politic” – is understood. Musolff challenges the hypotheses of the universality of “the nation” as a predominantly male-gendered and hierarchically organized concept and, in so doing, puts into question some of the key presuppositions of traditional historical and cognitive approaches to metaphor. For scholars and students of figurative language, the book lays out methodological foundations for cross-cultural metaphor comparison andreveals hidden meaning differences in political metaphor in English as lingua franca.

This book presents the results of a large-scale experiment into interpretations of the metaphor “the Nation as a Body” among 1,800+ respondents from 30 linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In this first account of an empirical study of cross-cultural global metaphor interpretation of that scale, Musolff confirms that the meanings of metaphors are complex, culturally mediated and may differ for senders and recipients. The book provides a historical and cultural map of the traditions underlying differences in how the nation as a body – or, “the body politic” – is understood. Musolff challenges the hypotheses of the universality of “the nation” as a predominantly male-gendered and hierarchically organized concept and, in so doing, puts into question some of the key presuppositions of traditional historical and cognitive approaches to metaphor. For scholars and students of figurative language, the book lays out methodological foundations for cross-cultural metaphor comparison andreveals hidden meaning differences in political metaphor in English as lingua franca.

An innovative collaborative research project conducted jointly at Durham University and the Istitut für deutsche Sprache in Mannheim, Germany. It focuses on the study of public debates on economic and political integration of Europe, in both Britain and Germany and how these debates have developed in the post war period up to the 1990s. The following topics are investigated: Euro-discourse and the new media, British national identity in the European context, representations of Germany in the context of European integration in Margaret Thatcher’s autobiographies, European debates in post-World War II Germany, the European debate in and between Germany and Great Britain, the career of the neologism Euro in German Press Texts and the metaphorization of European politics. The study links to Internet implications, providing the basis for further contrastive and comparative research on public discourse in the field of European politics.

Political metaphors and related figurative discourse tools are characterised by their variability and contentiousness. Using them, discourse participants try to gain competitive advantage over others by offering their audiences new meaning nuances, challenging each other and announcing political initiatives. It is here that metaphor as a means to change meanings – and thus, to change social and political reality – comes into its own. Political Metaphor Analysis provides an innovative approach to the study of figurative language use in political discourse by presenting empirical analyses based on a large corpus of political metaphors and metonymies, linking these analyses to theoretical positions and assessing their limitations and perspectives for further exploration. The ‘classic’ model of conceptual metaphor analysis, pioneered by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and expanded and amended over the past thirty-five years, is critically examined with regard to new findings about the variation, historicity, pragmatic exploitation, comprehension and interpretation of metaphors. As a central new analytical category, the notion of “metaphor scenario” is proposed and tested against various sub-sets of data. It allows to link hypothesised conceptual metaphors to narrative, argumentative and evaluative patterns in actual discourse and understanding processes, so that their cognitive significance can be more reliably gauged and theoretically modelled.

Political metaphors and related figurative discourse tools are characterised by their variability and contentiousness. Using them, discourse participants try to gain competitive advantage over others by offering their audiences new meaning nuances, challenging each other and announcing political initiatives. It is here that metaphor as a means to change meanings – and thus, to change social and political reality – comes into its own. Political Metaphor Analysis provides an innovative approach to the study of figurative language use in political discourse by presenting empirical analyses based on a large corpus of political metaphors and metonymies, linking these analyses to theoretical positions and assessing their limitations and perspectives for further exploration. The ‘classic’ model of conceptual metaphor analysis, pioneered by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and expanded and amended over the past thirty-five years, is critically examined with regard to new findings about the variation, historicity, pragmatic exploitation, comprehension and interpretation of metaphors. As a central new analytical category, the notion of “metaphor scenario” is proposed and tested against various sub-sets of data. It allows to link hypothesised conceptual metaphors to narrative, argumentative and evaluative patterns in actual discourse and understanding processes, so that their cognitive significance can be more reliably gauged and theoretically modelled.

This book is the first to provide a cognitive analysis of the function of biological/medical metaphors in National Socialist racist ideology and their background in historical traditions of Western political theory. Its main arguments are that the metaphor of the German nation as a body that needed to be rescued from a deadly poison must be viewed as the conceptual basis rather than a mere propagandistic by-product of Nazi genocidal policies culminating in the Holocaust, and that this metaphor is closely related to the more general metaphor complex of the nation as a human body/person, which is deeply ingrained in Western political thought. The cognitive approach is crucial to understanding the nature and the origins of this metaphor complex because it goes beyond the rhetorical level by analyzing the ideological and practical implications of the conceptual mapping body-state in detail. It provides an innovative perspective on the problem of how the Nazis managed to ‘revive’ a clichéd metaphor tradition to the point where it became a decisive factor in European and world history. Musolff reveals how such a perspective allows us to explain why the body-state metaphor continues to be attractive for use in contemporary political theories.

This book is the first to provide a cognitive analysis of the function of biological/medical metaphors in National Socialist racist ideology and their background in historical traditions of Western political theory. Its main arguments are that the metaphor of the German nation as a body that needed to be rescued from a deadly poison must be viewed as the conceptual basis rather than a mere propagandistic by-product of Nazi genocidal policies culminating in the Holocaust, and that this metaphor is closely related to the more general metaphor complex of the nation as a human body/person, which is deeply ingrained in Western political thought. The cognitive approach is crucial to understanding the nature and the origins of this metaphor complex because it goes beyond the rhetorical level by analyzing the ideological and practical implications of the conceptual mapping body-state in detail. It provides an innovative perspective on the problem of how the Nazis managed to ‘revive’ a clichéd metaphor tradition to the point where it became a decisive factor in European and world history. Musolff reveals how such a perspective allows us to explain why the body-state metaphor continues to be attractive for use in contemporary political theories.

An innovative collaborative research project conducted jointly at Durham University and the Istitut für deutsche Sprache in Mannheim, Germany. It focuses on the study of public debates on economic and political integration of Europe, in both Britain and Germany and how these debates have developed in the post war period up to the 1990s. The following topics are investigated: Euro-discourse and the new media, British national identity in the European context, representations of Germany in the context of European integration in Margaret Thatcher’s autobiographies, European debates in post-World War II Germany, the European debate in and between Germany and Great Britain, the career of the neologism Euro in German Press Texts and the metaphorization of European politics. The study links to Internet implications, providing the basis for further contrastive and comparative research on public discourse in the field of European politics.

Debatten über Terrorismus betreffen den politisch-kommunikativen Status von Minderheitsgruppen: Die Terrorismus-Zuschreibung dient der Stigmatisierung und Ausschließung solcher Gruppen aus der anerkannten "Öffentlichkeit". Im Rückgriff auf den Entstehungskontext des Terrorismusbegriffs in der Französischen Revolution werden zunächst die Voraussetzungen dieser Funktionalisierung anhand der zeitgenössischen französischen Terrorismusterminologie und ihrer Rezeption in Deutschland beleuchtet. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden die öffentlichen Terrorismusdebatten in Deutschland und Großbritannien seit den 1970er Jahren miteinander verglichen, wobei insbesondere der unterschiedliche kommunikativ-politische Umgang mit der terroristischen "Kriegserklärung" an die Öffentlichkeit analysiert wird.