Metaphors in Economics: Conceptual Mapping Possibilities in the Lectures of Economics

Contemporary theory of metaphor stresses its cognitive nature, as opposed to traditional view of metaphor as rather a linguistic ornament. Its importance in the field of science education has been already recognized, yet the application to the area of economic education is still missing. Besides the discussion of literality and figurativeness in economic terminology, this article gives the account of the way the conceptual theory of metaphor can be applied to teaching basic concepts of economics and suggests research options in the area of empirical pedagogical research. Special focus is given to the example of “demand for money” concept and difficulties with understanding students might face due to its ambiguous conceptual mappings. View of the metaphor taken is the interactive one.