Based on the observation that metaphors whose source domain stems from quantum phenomena (here referred to as quantum metaphor, i.e. metaphors relating to: the observer as co-constitutive of the observed; the cyclic structure of potentiality; dynamic plausibility) have proliferated across academic disciplines and beyond, the question is raised whether there is more at stake than just a change in image inventory. The potency of this group of metaphors is demonstrated by two examples applied in sociology (the “Heisenbergian uncertainty relation of the social and political”) and parapsychology (“Generalised Quantum Theory”). It is argued that linguistics, having itself incorporated and put to work quantum metaphor, is capable of accounting for and making sense of this change by virtue of its reflexive turn.
Key words:
paradigm, linguistics, uncertainty, introspection, language failure, quantum metaphor
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